Sooo, I’ve broken (or stretched…) some of my rules a bit :) Usually I don’t install beta / RC software, but I couldn’t resist giving a go to new Visual Studio (check my previous post for a direct link). Experience is highly positive - it works very smoothly (loading time!), looks great and I didn’t encounter any errors - feels like final product. NuGet Gallery works as well - it seems that extension format is compatible between Visual Studio versions.
That was easy, now something more tricky.
Isn’t it tempting to try Windows 8 Release Preview? :) Assuming that we’re not installing it as a main OS (that’s a bit too crazy…), you’d need a separate partition for that - that may be annoying. Fortunately, there’s another option - VHD! Scott Hanselman is coming to the rescue:
Be warned, I haven’t try that YET. There’s no guarantee it’ll work (especially on your company laptop). I’ll report more as soon as I try that.
P.S. Manning is publishing the Kindle version of their "ASP.NET MVC 4 in Action" tonight (http://manning.com/palermo3/) - if you’re looking for a book to learn ASP.NET MVC, that should be your choice (it’s even better than Haack’s / Galloway’s book) - highly recommended!
P.S.S. Well renown and respected Charles Petzold is working on his next book (http://shop.oreilly.com/product/0790145369079.do) - revised (6th) edition of his Windows Programming. It’s very detailed but not the most pleasant thing to read. Why do I mention that? For two reasons - first, this edition will cover WinRT and Windows 8 programming; second - the final price is going to be 50$, but pre-release price is 20$ only (and it was 10$ until like 2 days ago) - if you want a WinRT book, it may be a good option.