Microsoft today launched the fourth preview of Visual Studio "15", the next version of the company"s integrated development environment (IDE). The news comes about a month and a half after Preview 3 was released.
According to Microsoft, the "highlight of this release is that nearly all of VS is running on the new setup engine, resulting in a smaller, faster and less impactful installation." Indeed, the smallest Visual Studio "15" install comes in at about 500MB, which is unheard of, given that the current version of Visual Studio"s smallest install is around 6GB.
Of course, there are a number of other improvements in this build as well. You can get the full list in the release notes, where you"ll also find a list of known issues.
Microsoft recommends not using Visual Studio "15" for any critical work, as this is a preview build. It will run side-by-side with earlier versions of the app, but the company suggests uninstalling any previous Visual Studio "15" previews.
The firm has also provided an FAQ for anyone with questions. As always, it"s recommended to read through the documentation before installing.