Microsoft | Visual Studio 2015

Microsoft Visual Studio 2015: A Retrospective Deep Dive into a Developer Powerhouse

Published: May 6, 2026 | Category: Development Tools & Legacy Software

8. Comparison to Adjacent Releases

| Feature | VS2013 | VS2015 | VS2017 | |--------|--------|------------|--------| | Roslyn compiler | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ | | Cross-platform mobile (Xamarin) | Paid plugin | Free (Community/Pro) | Native | | .NET Core support | ❌ | Partial (Core 1.0) | Full (Core 2.x) | | Live Unit Testing | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ (Enterprise) | | macOS/Linux editor | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ (VS for Mac) | | Git integration | Basic | Native, improved | Enhanced | microsoft visual studio 2015

  • Produce a shorter intro for new readers.
  • Create a migration checklist tailored to your project's tech stack.
  • Draft a one-page cheat sheet of C# 6 features introduced in VS2015.

Linux Development

  • Via the "Visual C++ for Linux Development" extension (released after launch).
  • This allowed cross-compiling from Windows to Linux targets using GCC or Clang remotely.