WPF/E Linkfest and thoughts
Yesterday a whole bunch of beta and CTP versions of new Microsoft software was made available. Included was the first CTP (Community Tech Preview) of the WPF/E functionality that was mentioned in my talk on MacroView directions from the recent user group. Its an exciting time with lots of opportunites and pitfalls depending on which direction Microsoft takes this functionality in. This blog post contains a summary of a useful links relating to the recent Microsoft Expression and WPF/E releases. It also includes some thoughts at the end that relate to the MacroView product direction.
First here’s a bunch of videos and screencasts on the new Expression and WPF/E functionality:
- Joe Stegman talks about the "WPF/E" CTP
- Celso Gomes : Designing in "WPF/E"
- Expression - Part One: The Overview
- Expression - Part Two: Design
- Expression - Part Three: Blend
- Expression - Part Four: Web
- "WPF/E" CTP Demos
- Getting Started with "WPF/E"
- WPF/E Dev Center
- MSDN WPF/E Forums
- Expression Home Page
- Microsoft Design
- Official Press Release
- Scott Guthrie: Announcing the release of the first "WPF/E" CTP
- Expression Blend goes Beta, Big Changes to Expression Design CTP
- Announcing the Microsoft Expression Blend Beta 1
- Expression Blend -- What Is That?
- Expression Design -- New name, new UI
- Demystifying "WPF/E"
- Infragistics: A first look at WPF/E
- Infragistics: Microsoft Expression Blend and WPF/E CTP
- First Look at Windows Presentation Foundation/Everywhere
- WPF/E, Expression Blend, Expression Design and Expression Web
- Windows Presentation Foundation for the Macintosh (WPF/e)
- WPF/E CTP - Nice, but...
- WPF/E preview is out - but no cross-platform .NET for now
- Downloadable Microsoft Sample Pack
- Photo Viewer: WPF/E and Script#
- Channel 9 Video Player
- XAML Viewer
- WPF/E and Flash Interactive Example!
- More WPF/E and Flash Integration Madness!
- Microsoft’s interpretation of what the E for “Everywhere” in WPF/E stands for! There has been regular mention of WPF/E being made available by partners on Linux which would be great. The concern is that Joe Stegman didn’t mention the L word once in the recent Channel 9 video even in sections which related to cross platform availability. Together with the recent shannigans/rumblings with Novell and patents gives me cause for concern.
- There is too much of an emphasis on separating the designer and developer roles in the Microsoft releases. I personally believe that the world isn’t that black and white.
- A seeming side effect of the designer/developer separation is the lack of Expression tools in MSDN offerings: Expression and MSDN Subscriptions. I have been subscribed to an MSDN Universal package for a number of years. Even though Microsoft have changed the product names to protect the guilty, I feel that a top level MSDN subscription should include every Microsoft product that could be construed to be useful to a developer. The universe is certainly getting small these days if the expression suite isn’t available to developers.
- The lack of .NET integration at this point in time. There is a firmly stated direction for the integration of .NET byte code functionality so it will happen. The concern is more related to what they have to leave out and how interchangeable code that is used with WPF and WPF/E can practically be. We definitely don’t want a totally separate C# code base for WPF and WPF/E applications.
- The ease of integration between WPF/E and javascript in the browser.
- The small size (just over 1MB) of the plugin at this stage. Though having a small download is important for adoption rate, I am hoping Microsoft don’t go myopic on the download size and make some compromises for getting as much .NET environment functionality in as possible.
- The media player functionality included.
- The Microsoft Design (previously Graphic Designer) WPF makeover. Its an amazing technical feat given the product GUI just a couple of months ago in the September CTP.
- The inclusion of an extension API in the Microsoft Blend product (previously Interactive Designer). This will be particularly useful in being able to edit XAML files for use within a MacroView environment.
All in all the releases open up a bunch of functional possibilities for MacroView development. The key of course will be the .NET support that is slated for around a February release.