I'm not quite sure, but assume that the connection to Windows/Office you talk about is in response to my suggesting that the menus should be consistent with eve

I'm not quite sure, but assume that the connection to Windows/Office you talk about is in response to my suggesting that the menus should be consistent with everything else? I see that as more of a UI principle than a consequence of how closely the teams are bound within MS. I think there have been good features since; the VC++ compiler improved a lot in 2003 and the ability to debug into STL containers (IIRC, 2005?) is brilliant. I just wish I could get things like that without the bloat* and UI churn. *: yes, I know "bloat" is an overused term, but honestly, VS2008 is several gigabytes and takes an hour and multiple reboots to install, plus another half-hour for the service pack. I find that a bit extreme for what is basically a compiler and, as described in another thread, a glorified text editor.