As usual, the Visual Studio SPx and .NET Framework SPx are not only "Service Packs" for bug fixes, but they contains lots of new features and improvements to the entire platform.
What is interesting to know:
The .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 delivers:
- Performance increases between 20-45% for WPF-based applications – without having to change any code
- WCF improvements that give developers more control over the way they access data and services.
- Streamlined installation experience for client applications
- Improvements in the area of data platform, such as the ADO.NET Entity Framework, ADO.NET Data Services and extensive support for SQL Server 2008’s new features.
Visual Studio 2008 SP1 delivers:
- Improved designers for building WPF applications
- Full support for SQL Server 2008 (formerly known as SQL Server Katmai)
- ADO.NET Entity Framework and ADO.NET Data Services tooling
- Visual Basic and Visual C++ components and tools (including an MFC-based Office 2007 Style ‘Ribbon’)
- Improvements to TFS to respond to customer feedback on version control usability and performance, improved email integration with work item tracking and full support for hosting on SQL 2008.
- Improvements for Web development including richer JavaScript support, enhanced AJAX and data tools, and Web site deployment.
And there's an interesting aspect under the hoods:
with .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 now you can execute a managed code from a network location.