If you are not aware, Visual Studio Service Pack 1 and the .Net Framework Service Pack 1 were released a few months ago. In addition to bug fixes, a lot of new functionality is contained in this release. A partial list of new features includes the following:

VS 2008 SP1:

    * Improved WPF designers
    * SQL Server 2008 support
    * ADO.NET Entity Designer
    * Visual Basic and Visual C++ components and tools (including an MFC-based Office 2007 style ‘Ribbon’)
    * Visual Studio Team System Team Foundation Server (TFS) addresses customer feedback on version control usability and performance, email integration with work item tracking and full support for hosting on SQL Server 2008
    * Richer JavaScript support, enhanced AJAX and data tools, and Web site deployment improvements

The .NET Framework 3.5 SP1:

* Performance increases between 20-45% for WPF-based applications – without having to change any code
    * WCF improvements that give developers more control over the way they access data and services
    * Streamlined installation experience for client applications
    * Improvements in the area of data platform, such as the ADO.NET Entity Framework, ADO.NET Data Services and support for SQL Server 2008’s new features

Additional details and a link to download SP1 can be found in this MSDN article.