I feel that a fundamental shift is underway in the world of Information Technology and it is being lead by a company known better for their theft of existing technologies then their innovation and invention of new ones: Microsoft. For almost 20 years now, software interfaces have been built around the same principles and concepts, namely form driven layout. That is to say, our user interfaces, with a few exceptions (i.e. the web and Flash), don’t look all that different from those applications released with the first commercially available Graphic User Interfaces, the Mac and Windows 1.0 and the Xerox Alto built in 1975, 10 years before those systems where available.
Microsoft is changing all that by providing a platform that will lift us out of this state of stagnation by unleashing designer and developer creativity and elevating software design and development to something recognized by the general populous as an artistic rather than an engineering endeavor. And while you don’t have to look to deep to see a cynical side to their actions, I feel these new technologies will have an incredibly profound impact on how software is built and how it is used which will ripple through our industry for years to come.
So, what are these technologies and what is so special about them? That is what this blog-entry and others that will follow will attempt to do: Qualitatively assess the majority of technologies being released from Microsoft under the “Ready for a new day” technology and marketing wave. Here is a list of what I’m aware of to date:
· WPF
· WPF/E (Separate but related to WPF)
· WCF
· WF
· CardSpace
· Gadgets
· Expression Design Tools Suite
There are some other new technologies that will be released probably around the same time or shortly after from Microsoft such as C# 3.0, LINQ, and DSL Tools that I want to learn as much as I can and write about but, in a separate series. This series will focus on the related aspects of the technologies listed above. Feedback is welcomed: briancabbott@gmail.com.
