Microsoft Visual Studio LightSwitch Launching July 26

Microsoft Visual Studio LightSwitch 2011, designed to help developers quickly build and deploy enterprise cloud and desktop applications, has been given a launch date of July 26, 2011.

The idea behind LightSwitch, according to the official website, is that developers can use a series of pre-built templates and components to rapidly make applications with familiar, Microsoft-friendly design elements that can be deployed anywhere — from the desktop to the Microsoft Windows Azure cloud platform.

In fact, integration with the rest of Microsoft’s product line is another key selling point for LightSwitch: not only can ISVs and administrators develop their own extensions and functionalities beyond those built-in templates with the Visual Basic .NET and C++ compilers built-in, but the applications can pull data from “Microsoft SQL Server, Microsoft SQL Azure, SharePoint, Microsoft Office Access (post-Beta) and other third-party data sources.”

The name comes from the fact that Microsoft sees building scalable, extensible applications as easy as flicking on a light switch. And it seems pretty clear that Redmond hopes this is the magic bullet that leads to Windows Azure taking market leadership in the cloud developer marketplace. Whether or not LightSwitch succeeds, that’s up to Microsoft’s developer base. Stay tuned to TalkinCloud for more.

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