The public beta of Visual Studio 2008 and .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 are now available here.

SP1 comes with a slew of enhancements and fixes covering various aspects of the VS 2008 IDE as well as the .NET Framework.

Among the highlights relevant to ASP.NET and web development in the upcoming SP1 release include:

• ASP.NET Data Scaffolding Support (ASP.NET Dynamic Data)
• ASP.NET Routing Engine (System.Web.Routing)
• ASP.NET AJAX Back/Forward Button History Support
• ASP.NET AJAX Script Combining Support
• VS 2008 Performance Improvements in HTML Designer and HTML Source Editor
• VS 2008 JavaScript Script Formatting and Code Preferences
• Better VS Javascript Intellisense for Multiple Javascript/AJAX Frameworks
• VS Refactoring Support for WCF Services in ASP.NET Projects
• VS Support for Classic ASP Intellisense and Debugging
• Visual Web Developer Express Edition support for Class Library and Web Application Projects
• ASP.NET Application Request Throughput Improvements of Up to 10%
• SQL 2008 Support in VS 2008
• ADO.NET Entity Framework and LINQ to Entities
• ADO.NET Data Services
• WCF Development Improvements
• VB and C# Improvements

Other enhancements not mentioned above cover primarily client development (Windows Forms, WPF, and Setup Package).  The SP1 releases are expected to be shipped this summer as free updates.

For a more detailed description of the new features in the release, check out Scott Guthrie's blog post or Somasegar's blog post.

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