"Things will get even better next year with Visual Studio Orcas, where we are adding rich JavaScript IntelliSense, debugging and WYSIWYG designer support for the ASP.Net AJAX Extensions within Visual Studio and many other great features to take advantage of," Guthrie said.

Microsoft plans to have a beta of its Atlas technologies soon, followed by a release candidate.

In other development tools-related events, Parasoft this week is introducing Jtest 8.0, for Java code analysis and unit-testing, while AutomatedQA is upgrading its memory debugger.

Jtest 8.0 is for static code analysis. "It essentially helps development organizations build quality into their code and by doing so, obviously release on schedule more functionality and release with higher quality," said Nada daVeiga, Jtest product manager at Parasoft.

Featured in version 8.0 is Bug Detective, which traces and simulates execution paths to expose runtime bugs that otherwise would be difficult to find through manual testing or inspections, Parasoft said.