Jeremy contributes to the news about Longhorn and WinFS. Most interesting is Jeremy's discussion of the usability studies we did on WinFS and how we're using that information to improve the API. Check it out.
Joe Marini is working with Longhorn, Avalon and XAML on a Microsoft product team and finds that he really loves XAML. This, in and off itself, is not surprising (I mean, that’s what we’re paying him for : ), but it’s interesting to hear the specifics.
One thing that Joe seems to love (and I can hardly blame him) is that data binding in Avalon is used to build the UI, not just show external data. He expounds on this in his wonderful Data Bound User Interfaces in XAML article.
Another thing that Joe loves is that a Avalon designer’s work is in the same format as what the designer needs and can be dropped right into an app w/o converting from bitmap mock-ups (Peter Stern and I are doing this).
You can read about the work that Joe has done with XAML and download his code samples on his web site’s tutorial section. Joe is definitely one to watch in the Longhorn/Avalon space.
“I am a software developer who is currently working on C#/.net in Canada. Like so many other developers I am really excited about the features in Longhorn. I am waiting for it and so it is really good to know that Longhorn already exists on Mars. Yes, that’s what USA Today reported today. Read the caption beside the image in this story.”
Apparently NASA’s in the early adopter program… : )
It’s easy to forget the real people behind any given project, especially one the size of Indigo with Don as the pretty figure head. In this video, Don (via Robert and Channel9) shows you a fraction of the people that work on the team and they reveal their deepest past implementation shames and triumphs. Put a face on CoInitializeSecurity and enjoy.
While not nearly as extensive as Christophe Nasarre's 3-part look at MSBuild (part 1, part 2 and part 3), Klaus Aschenbrenner has provided a nice 3-page overview of MSBuild, including the major elements, a "hello world" .proj file and even a quick look at building custom tasks.
