Ahead of its scheduled April 2 general release, Microsoft has made available the release candidate for Visual Studio 2019. Developers who want to dive in early with a near-final version of Microsoft's latest integrated development environment (IDE) can download the Visual Studio 2019 RC now (via Neowin).
Along with the launch of the release candidate, Microsoft has also outlined a plan for two release channels for Visual Studio 2019 going forward. From Microsoft:
With this release, we're introducing two product "channels": the release channel and the preview channel. Starting today, Visual Studio 2019 RC is available in the release channel (visualstudio.com/downloads) and Visual Studio 2019 Preview 4 is available in the preview channel (visualstudio.com/preview). Both versions can be installed and used side-by-side and, right now, both channels contain the same bits.
Additionally, you can now choose to download either the Community, Professional, or Enterprise editions for either release channel. Prior to today's release, only the Enterprise edition was available to download with the Visual Studio 2019 preview.
Visual Studio 2019 will get a full release on April 2, alongside an all-day launch event that will feature a variety of live-streamed sessions and Q&A opportunities. For more on what's new with the release candidate, you can check out the full release notes from Microsoft.
