Since it’s been a long while since I’ve been really closely involved with VB2005, this seems like a strangely anti-climatic announcement, but: we’ve shipped!
Visual Studio 2005 (Standard, Pro, and Express versions) and SQL Server 20005 are now available for download on MSDN if you’re a subscriber, otherwise you’ll have to wait until after the November 7th launch event.
For a good overview of the new features in Visual Basic 2005 check out Ken Getz's article. You can also find a collection of VB 2005 articles at our developer center.
Updated 10/27/05: Corrected MSDN link. Thanks Serge!