The embedded designer that comes bundled in Visual Studio 2008 is basically the same tool that was embedded in Visual Studio 2005. There are a lot of new features that in my opinion, make shelling out the $250 to upgrade worth the investment. If you are using Visual Studio 2008, you could get it now, and only use the standalone designer; otherwise, if you want the integrated designer, you may want to wait a few months (my guess) for the update.