Microsoft has publicly announced the availability of Visual Studio 2005 Beta 2. This version of the beta includes the high-end versions — Team System — as well as the Express and Professional Editions.
If you are an MSDN subscriber, you can go here to log in and download beta 2 immediately. If you are not an MSDN subscriber, you can go here to order a copy that will be mailed. Although I'm an MSDN subscriber, I went ahead and ordered the CD/DVD. There was no charge when I ordered.
Also released in a second beta are the Express Edition versions of Visual Studio 2005. You can download the express editions from here. The Express betas require that you register them within 30 days; however, this doesn't cost. The five development Express editions have all been released:
Equally important to the release of the betas is the release of the Go Live licensing. Beta software licensing generally prohibits applications created with the software from being deployed into a live environment. The Go Live licensing is an addendum to the standard EULA that provides a means for applications using the following to be launched:
For more on Go Live go here.