Visual Studio 2008 vs Visual Studio 2010 on Framework 3.5

Question

I am using Visual Studio 2008 since its release, but I have never ever use Visual Studio 2010. Basically I want to know where VS 2010 is a only a other version of Visual Studio or it has some special features.
I have to work in only .NET framework version 3.5 not 4.0

Answer 1

You can develop/target your applications to the 3.5 framework with Visual Studio.

Visual Studio 2010 of course offers a better development experience. Here are those items that I'd highlight to justify the switch:

• better TFS 2010 integrations
• nicer font rendering
• Start Page improvements (pinning projects and no more useless RSS feeds)
• easier path to revving to beyond .NET 3.5
• much improved extensibility and the Visual Studio Gallery integration

Answer 2

In VS 2010 you can use great free extension pack: Power Tools. You can read more about it on Scott Guthrie blog:: http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2010/06/09/visual-studio-2010-productivity-power-tool-extensions.aspx

Answer 3

I think it's worth going to VS2010 if only for NuGet and Web.Config transformations. I'd also suggest going to .NET 4/MVC3 as well, which would require VS2010. But it's worth doing even without that as an immediate benefit.

Answer 4

I'm not convinced VS2010 is better than VS2008 if you're only developing, for instance, using ASP.NET and WinForms, for .NET 3.5.

Compiling for Framework 3.5 and x86 on Windows 7 x64 is a nightmare due to the Resgen problem, where the workarounds don't always work (I went back to Windows 7 x86 because of this). (Anyone know whether this is fixed with the respective Windows 7 and VS2010 SP1s?)

I'm not clear why, but opening a Winforms designer often fails, requiring a restart of VS and a reload of the solution. This is incredibly irritating.

And the toolbar customisation isn't as nice in VS2010.

I should think that if you want the Framework 4.0 features, or if you're working with Silverlight or WPF, VS2010 is much better.

But otherwise, I don't think the advantages are that clear.

Answer 5

Just Choose your target framework when creating your project in vs 2010.

Same post here:

how to add .net 3.5 to visual studio 2010?

Can I develop asp.net 3.5/2.0 projects using Visual Studio 2010?

Or Try to install .net framework 3.5 and install its update.net framework

Regards