Also, Ive found the new Visual Studio to be a bit less buggy when dealing with Windows Forms applications. I dont spend all that much time doing ASP.NET work except for webservices and theyve worked just about as expected.
In VW 2002 I used to get fairly frequent crashes in VS (one a day or every other day when rebuilding large projects then opening WinForm designers). It also had a knack for just dropping out code in my InitializeComponent method. I got in the habit of always checking my changes before checking anything into SourceSafe.
The only "bad" bug Ive seen in VS 2003 is a VS crash that occurs sometime after referenced assemblies are updated (they point to a network share). Occasionally, VS wont show intellisense anymore. That my clue to get out fast! If I dont and do something like open the Object Browser or go to Class View, VS will popup a console window and then disappear. At least I get the "warning" so I can save first
So, VS is a bit better.
The new framework has a LOT to offer - Id check out MSDN website to get details to see if its worth it. Its not without problems if you have a LARGE project. You might need to investigate some time to see how the upgrade will go. We had to spend a few days changing out code that did Xsl transformations since it became a "requirement" that you had trusted namespaces (or something like that - obvisouly *I* didnt have to do that upgrade
).
Theres also the perceived benefit to clients. I cant name a single professional project developed and compiled in VB4. I know quite a few in VB5 and a bunch in VB6. But VB4 was the first to introduce classes and... well, it had its problems. When VB5 came out, our clients wanted VB5... NOT that a client should dictate what language or version you use, but if you only have one client and you "want" to upgrade anyway, it might make it a lot easier. Some clients work the other way and want to go with the "trusted" (older) product since they think it might be more stable.
Ideally, it would be "your" job to give them the most accurate information and make the decision from there. Do the benefits of upgrading outweight the downsides? How much time would you lose upgrading? Whats the ROI if the cost is significant (might be small since you might get a "free" copy)?
Or, if youre a "cowboy", then just upgrade to Whidbey technical preview release and go for it!
-nerseus
