DirectX Managed VS XNA

This one is simple.

DirectX Managed has been left in its current state as of version 1.1 and Microsoft will not provide newer versions as DirectX evolves. Instead, they chose the XNA Framework path so if you're serious about making games or graphic related applications that require advanced techniques, you really should start by either coding in C++ with DirectX unmanaged, or pick C# and XNA. Forget about DirectX Managed, just think it doesn't exists anymore, it is officialy dead. The good news though is that XNA works on the Xbox 360 as well as the Windows platform, so you can easily deploy your app or game on both without too much additional work.

What are the consequences? Well it seems right now the XNA Framework only works with Visual Studio Express edition (which is free btw). It doesn't integrate with Visual Studio Professional or Enterprise at all. It seems there is a version coming for it but they won't announce a release date yet.