Visual Studio 2005 Professional Edition is a comprehensive, high productivity professional development environment (for devs working alone or in small teams) for building high performance, multi-tier applications for Windows, the Web, and mobile devices.
Quick Glance
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 2000, Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional, Microsoft Windows Server 2003 x64, Microsoft Windows XP, Microsoft Windows XP Professional, Microsoft Windows XP Professional x64, Windows 2003 Server
License Type: Complete Product
Media Format: CD-ROM
Software
License Type: Complete Product
Version / Edition: 2005
Media Format: CD-ROM
Min License Size: 1 user(s)
Max License Size: 1 User
Recommended System Requirements
Recommended Processor Class: Intel Pentium 4
Recommended Processor Speed: 1 GHz
Recommended Memory: 256 MB
Recommended Disk Space: 3.8 GB
System Requirements
System Requirements: Processor: 600MHz or faster (1GHz recommended) Operating System: Windows 2000 Professional, Server, Advanced Server, Datacenter Server with Service Pack 4 Windows XP Professional x64 Edition (WOW) Windows XP Professional, Home with Service Pack 2 Windows XP Media Center Edition 2002 Service Pack 2 Windows XP Media Center Edition 2004 Service Pack 2 Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 Windows XP Tablet PC Edition Service Pack 2 Windows Server 2003 Standard, Enterprise, Datacenter, Web Edition with Service Pack 1 Windows Server 2003 Standard x64, Enterprise x64, Datacenter x64 Edition (WOW) Windows Server 2003 R2 Standard, Enterprise, Datacenter Edition Windows Server 2003 R2 Standard x64, Enterprise x64, Datacenter x64 Edition (WOW) Windows Vista Hard Disk: 3.8GB of available space required on installation drive with full MSDN installation or 2.8GB required on installation drive with default MSDN installation 1GB required on system drive Memory: 192MB of RAM (256MB recommended) Others: Input Device Microsoft mouse or compatible pointing device 800 x 600 resolution with 256 colors (1024 x 768 resolution with High Color - 16-bit recommmended) Note: Installation of Visual Studio 2005 on the Intel Itanium (IA64) not supported
Required Operating System: Microsoft Windows 2000, Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional, Microsoft Windows Server 2003 x64, Microsoft Windows XP, Microsoft Windows XP Professional, Microsoft Windows XP Professional x64, Windows 2003 Server
Required Processor Class: Intel Pentium III Processor
Required Processor Speed: 600 MHz
Required Memory: 192 MB
Required Disk Space: 2 GB
More Info
URL: Manufacturer Link
Must Have
Strengths: Auto complete, powerful libraries, strong binary optimization, easy WYSIWYG GUI development
Weakness: none
With 2008 coming soon, this topic is a bit late. Still, this is the best IDE for a windows developer. Better support for standard C++ over 2002, the main reason we chose to upgrade is that 2002 would not install on vista which we will probably be forced to use soon.