PDC Samples Wide Range of Upcoming Products

With more than 30 gigabytes of beta and preview software in their luggage, including Windows Vista and the next release of Office, developers left the 2005 Microsoft Professional Developers Conference (PDC) with plenty of work ahead. Not only was Microsoft pushing its new products, but the company also emphasized concepts such as service-oriented architectures, interactive graphics design, and the value of building on higher-level software foundations that often eliminate the need for low-level coding.

All of these products and technologies will be covered in more depth in future Directions articles.

Vista Client

This was the first PDC at which attendees got a close-up view and real code for Windows Vista, the long-awaited refresh of the Windows desktop OS that is scheduled to ship at the end of 2006.

Most Vista demos focused on the product’s user interface (UI), which is based on the new Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF, formerly code-named Avalon). Consisting of a run-time engine and an accompanying development framework, the WPF will add substantial dazzle not only to the Windows UI but also to applications that tap the WPF engine to deliver their own UI features. Most visible will be “gadgets,” small applications that can be attached to a “Sidebar” on the Windows desktop.