Does VS2008 (Express) coexist peacefully with VS2005, which I need to retain for certain client projects?
Depends on the installation order. For most purposes (executable files, include files, libraries, etc), they live in different file and registry spaces, so they coexist fine. The only issue is file name extensions: what happens if you double-click .sln. VS2008 comes with a version selector that checks the contents of the file before launching a specific visual studio, so if you install that second, it will still open old projects with VS 2005. VS2005 also shipped with a version selector; I'm unsure whether that tool would also support future versions (ie. vs2008), so its better to make sure the 2008 selector gets used. I don't know whether simultaneous installation of the express and full versions of VS 2008 is supported (but that was not your question). Regards, Martin