Just upgraded to Visual Studio .NET 2003.  On the surface, nothing really noticable has changed, but the C++ compiler sure is making a lot of noise (warnings and errors).  They are mostly correct errors due to more through support of C++ language and library standards.  Its just that I am suddenly faced with the chore of removing all the language hacks.

For example, VS used to have its own version of Standard C++ Library available through header files such as <istream.h>.  With VSNET 2003, those header files are gone, replaced with files like <istream> which are 'correct' way of using Standard C++ Library.  While this change will mean less headaches for my platform-independent code, it does mean my old code doesn't compile now.  Mostly, its no problem, just chores.  Some times, though there are enough behavior differences for my wife to close my office door when I start swearing.  Oy!  Joy of new tools.

Still, I am now armed with two newest tools: VSNET 2003 and Eclipse 2.1.  Some geeks are gadget freaks, and some are tool freaks.  Now I have new shiny hammers to bang on things with. <g>