I had hoped we'd see the bits of Visual Studio 2005 "Whidbey" by the January timeframe, nicely in time for the Developer & IT Pro Days in Belgium on 1 and 2 February, or the VSLive! conference in San Francisco. Unfortunately, it appears that Microsoft has its eyes on a March 31 release date for the new bits, which will be fully supported -- meaning software companies can release production software built with it and enjoy Redmond's support.
Beta 2 will have a slightly different API from Beta 1, ASP.NET will feature a different directory structure than Beta 1 and especially System.Xml will receive a major overhaul... So if you're developing with Beta 1 or the December CTP, keep in mind that after March 31 you'll need to make some changes to your code.
Currently, the development team is doing a security push on the Beta 2 bits, meaning that when the code is released, it will be considered secure... and probably the bug-freest development environment Microsoft has ever released. I wish it was already here!
Last Friday's Belgian Geek Dinner was really great. There were 19 of us and we all had a really great time, mingling and talking and of course eating and drinking with gusto. The Attila is a really great place for this type of get-togethers. Patrick Tisseghem suggested that we follow this up in a couple of months with a Geek Party. Sounds like a plan, Patrick!
Update: David Boschmans has posted some pictures on his MSN Space... Cool slideshow!