Downloading
The download from MSDN is an ISO (DVD image) file. It's almost 1.8 GB in size, and took a few hours to get (especially as I was simultaneously downloading SQL Server 2012 RC as well -- that one itself being 4.4 GB).
Next, I unpacked the ISO using 7-Zip, which is available (for free) from download.cnet.com. This way I could run the install directly from the hard disk; the alternative is to burn a DVD and then install Visual Studio 11 from that DVD. Or, if we want to neither unpack nor burn a DVD, 7-Zip also enables us to view the contents of the ISO, and permits running the installer directly from there without unpacking.
Installing
Installation was quite straightforward. It took about 2 hours on my machine, and requires about 10 GB of space. The first thing to notice was the new splash screen - stylish in blue and gray. While waiting, there's a cool set of 5 dots that repeatedly move across the screen, replacing the familiar green moving bar. With 2 hours to ponder over them, I concluded that each was pulling the one behind it using a rubber-band. This physics is especially noticeable when the 5th one is pulled away.
Once the install is complete, and after a mandatory restart, VS 11 is good to run.
Running Visual Studio 11
The first time it's run, it asks for your development environment preferences - C# or VB development, Web development and so on. Along with that, it also offers to copy preferences from the prior VS version - not sure how this overlap works or gets resolved.
Once I got past that, the new Visual Studio 11 home screen came up. For Visual Studio 2010 users, the first difference is the switch in placements of the Open/Create Project and the Getting Started materials. The latter is now on the left, much more prominent. In some ways this highlights the available learning material, and that is a good approach. Graphics on the screens are monochrome presently; I imagine the designers at Microsoft are hard at work creating beautiful full-color icons that'll come with the final release.
Visual Studio 11 comes with the latest .NET 4.5 framework, as well as with MVC 4. Together, the whole set forms a powerful team, and there's a ton of new material to learn -- as well as to enjoy! They contain great features both on the IDE side as well the .NET library side. It is installable side-by-side with Visual Studio 2010, and in fact one of the most interesting features (first time for any VS version, I think) is that a Visual Studio 2010 .NET 4 project can be opened in VS 11 as well -- without breaking it for VS 2010. This sounds like a really good feature for teams that may have some members using VS 2010 and others VS 11, allowing the team to upgrade gradually.
Shown below is a screenshot of the default MVC 4 web app, out of the box and without any additional coding at all. It definitely is a very far cry from the VS 2010 MVC 2 or MVC 3 starting points.
Downloading and installing Visual Studio 11 is easy, so don't wait any longer!
Happy coding!
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