The Visual C++ team is excited to announce that the VS2005 Service Pack (SP1) Beta is now available to customers!  This Service Pack includes over 2,000 bug fixes, as well as Hotfixes and General Distribution Release Updates (GDRs).  As for Visual C++, you will find over 400 bug fixes, the largest number of any of the product teams. 

Should you choose to download and participate in the Beta, you will find that Release notes are included.  These notes provide some details on the fixes in the Service Pack as well as other important information.  When we release the full Product version, Knowledge Base articles and a complete list of Bug fixes will be included.  Here are some additional details:

• The fixes in this service pack address many issues received from customers via the Product Feedback Center, which was introduced first in the Visual Studio 2005 product cycle.  We are also including any fixes addressing security issues categorized as MSRC Critical, Important or Moderate, fixes for product reliability and stability issues, and the crashes most frequently reported via Watson.

• Beta will include VS2005 SP1 and Express in English and Japanese only

• Customers may sign up and download the Beta by accessing  the Microsoft Connect site at  https://connect.microsoft.com/visualstudio 

• The announcement from our Division Vice President about this release can be found at http://blogs.msdn.com/somasegar

We look forward to receiving your comments and feedback on this significant release.  

Thanks, the Visual C++ Team