Visual Studio Offers Tools Platform

Visual Studio .NET gives third-party tool vendors access to the same interfaces that Microsoft uses to build its own tools (such as Visual Basic), making it easier for vendors to build tools that extend Microsoft’s popular development environment. However, Microsoft has also introduced a new Enterprise Architect Edition of Visual Studio, which adds features that were previously only available from third parties. This is good news for developers because it offers better tools for Windows and .NET, but it represents both a threat and an opportunity for third-party tool vendors.

New Program Benefits Tool Vendors

Microsoft has long had programs to encourage third-party developers to fill gaps in the Visual Studio product line by building complementary products. Visual Studio .NET takes this strategy a step further by introducing a new Visual Studio API and improving its support program for third parties.

The Visual Studio .NET Integration Program (VSIP) allows licensees to integrate new tools and programming languages into Visual Studio. For an annual fee of US$10,000, vendors have access to the Visual Studio API, allowing their tools to add components to projects, insert new code or modify existing code in projects (regardless of the programming language being used), and define entirely new project types. Vendors can use these new capabilities in several ways: