I've created a Top 10 List of the features I'm most excited about coming to us in Windows Vista. I would love for people to take a look at my list as well as create their own either on their own blogs or via the comments on my Top 10 List.

Click here to view My Windows Vista Top 10 List!

Also, I would love to thank the people who participiated in my "What Gadget do you want the most?" post. Alot of the responses and ideas people came up with were really really exciting! I even got a mention on Sean Alexander's blog who's the Windows Sidebar God. Sean is one of the coolest Microsofties - he's been nothing but polite and encouraging to me. If you have more ideas on Gadgets, make sure you visit my post!

 

In case you haven't seen other pointers to Chuck's blog, please make sure to visit him regularly.  Chuck describes his role in the development of XAML in his first of several posts describing XAML.

Thanks to Chuck's influence and focus, XAML is evolving into a language that is generically useful.  WPF's usage of XAML is huge, but we'll see other teams (like Windows Workflow Foundation today) begin to use it as well.

Chuck spends most of his time currently working "Cider", the designer for WPF that will ship with Visual Studio "Orcas".  He has several posts pointing to msdn, channel 9 and pdc videos of Cider.

I've learned a lot from Chuck.  Whenever I meet with him I usually realize I still have much more to learn from him...

I already see many queries about a build of WinFX that works with the just released VS/.Net Framework: 1 2 3 ...

I've updated the information in my blog post about our installing our current CTP with the text in bold:

   Sorry, there is currently no build of WinFX that is compatible with RC or RTM builds of VS!
   The first CTP of WinFX after September 2005 will be in sync with the final VS 2005 and .Net Framework 2.0.

The WinFX team is very happy to see VS 2005 and .NET Framework 2.0 ship.  Current internal Windows Vista/WinFX builds work with these final builds.  Once we get this build to a previewable state, we'll ship it out as a CTP.  We realize it is in high demand.

Understand the Ramifications of Installing if you are doing WinFX Development
If you are doing active WinFX development, don't install the final VS or .NetFramework on your WinFX development box unless you want to pause your WinFX development for several weeks.  If you are building applications targetting the .Net Framework 2.0 and not the rest of WinFX then Go, Go, Go!

What about Applications built on WinFX?
Any applications or tools that require WinFX's September CTP, won't work on the final .Net Framework until we ship an updated WinFX and they ship updated versions of their apps/tools.  Microsoft Max, Mobiform Aurora, etc...

Why can't we make it all just work on the same machine?
I blogged back in March 2005 about why these dependencies exist.

Bryan Starbuck, lead development for Windows Mail (formally Outlook Express) in Windows Vista, points out that Microsoft Outlook's built in Spam Filter has been voted the best by Consumer Reports. Check out the Consumer Reports findings here. What's awesome about this is that, just as Bryan says, Windows Mail will incorporate Outlook's Spam Filter technology when it ships with Windows Vista. This is going to be an extremely important for users that go to Windows Vista because right out of the box, Windows Vista will ship with a very dependable mail client with built in spam protection that's top notch! Very exciting.

You can download the final version of the .NET Framework 2.0 by heading on over to Microsoft's Download Page. I'm installing it now. I am curious to see if programs such as Microsoft Max still run with the final version!

UPDATE: After installing the .NET Framework 2.0, I attempted to install the WinFX September CTP Components required for Microsoft Max to download and install - unfortunately the WinFX September CTP Components do not finish installing telling me an error has occured. Thefore, Microsoft Max won't install with the .NET Framework 2.0 installed from what I'm getting right now. If anyone knows a work-around, or thinks I'm doing something wrong, let me know!