The manager makes it much easier to see what extensions are available and allows easy access to detailed information about each extension. It also helps you keep you installed extensions up to date by notifying you of any changes.

Two of my favorite extensions are PowerCommands and the Productivity Power Tools. PowerCommands adds the “Open Containing Folder” command to the solution explorer. This allows you to quickly navigate to the folder that contains your source code.  This feature alone makes it worth installing. There are several other handy features that enhance copy and paste as well as document management. You can find more info here.

The Productivity Power Tools extension is one of the most useful extensions available. Some of the best features include auto brace competition, a searchable Add Reference Dialog, Column Guides, Solution Navigator (which is a much improved version of the solution explorer), and tons of improvements to the document tabs. You can find more info here.

Take a few minutes to look through the extension gallery. You might be surprised what features you never knew you were missing from Visual Studio 2010.

Microsoft then tried to break this un-cool image by doing one of the most un-cool things they could think of, creating ads that featured Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Gates.  These ads made no sense and ended up making Microsoft look out of touch with reality. I think the biggest mistake Microsoft made, was telling the world how much they paid to make them.  Apple ironically pointed this out in their own expensive ad.

The next set of ads, in my option, finally got it right. Shortly after Seinfeld they moved onto “I’m a PC” which featured real people proudly claiming that they are PC users. Even though the ads took some criticism, they we very successful changing the image of the PC.  This help set up the next wave of ads.

Microsoft’s latest ad campaign, which features people shopping for computers, finally hit Apple where it hurt. These ads specifically target Apple and the infamous “Apple Tax”. One ad has a potential customer proclaiming “’I'm Just Not Cool Enough to Be a Mac Person”. This really hit Apple below the belt as they already are struggling with a snobbish persona.

Recently Microsoft has branched out into several viral ads. These ads have had mixed results. The most successful ad was “pulled” by Microsoft, because it was deemed as offensive. The ad featured a wife that started vomiting when she saw her husband’s browser history.  (The ad is for the in-private browsing feature of IE 8). These types of ads have finally changed MS advertising image. They have shown that the Software giant is not going to just sit there and take it.

Now I leave you with this little gem from Microsoft Germany. The ad is in Germen, but shows just how far Microsoft is willing to go to be one of the cool kids…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkwh4ZaxHIA