Visual Studio 2008 Upd -

Revisiting the Workhorse: Why Visual Studio 2008 Still Matters

LINQ (Language Integrated Query):

One of the biggest additions, allowing developers to write native-language queries for SQL Server, XML, and objects directly in Visual Basic and C#.

Office Development

: New templates made it easier to build "Ribbon" interfaces and add-ins for Excel and Word. visual studio 2008

B. Visual Studio 2008 Editor Improvements