March 3rd, 2008

Infragistics releases NetAdvantage for Visual Studio 2008

Posted by Ryan Stewart @ 10:24 am

Categories: .NET 3.0, Experience, Rich Internet Applications, Silverlight, WPF, Windows Presentation Foundation

Tags: Microsoft Visual Studio, Component, Microsoft Visual Studio 2008, Microsoft Windows Presentation Foundation, Rich Internet Application, Infragistics WPF Component, Looking Component, Ryan Stewart

In the world of rich Internet application components, Infragistics has a ton of experience. They’ve been building .NET components for a long time and they took very quickly to WPF. They announced this week that they’re component set, including NetAdvantage for WPF is compatible with VisualStudio 2008 so you’ll be able to use all of their components when you upgrade to Microsoft’s latest and greatest tools.

The Infragistics WPF components are quite good. They’ve got some data grid enhancements, a “ribbon-style” control that you can drop into your WPF applications and a good charting suite. They also have some good Silverlight components as Doug McCune noted when he went looking for Silverlight demos.

I think the RIA components market is one that has only just started to get off the ground. Good looking components are such a big part of the experience that as bigger and bigger companies start using RIAs, there will be a huge market for people building components. As with many things, companies are more than happy to buy a solution that fits their needs, so a diverse and quality component library is a welcome addition to any RIA platform.

December 11th, 2007

Microsoft Volta - a cool new RIA technology

Posted by Ryan Stewart @ 6:07 pm

Categories: .NET 3.0, Ajax, Microsoft, Silverlight

Tags: Microsoft .NET, Microsoft Intermediate Language, Rich Internet Application, Microsoft Corp., Microsoft Volta, Ed, AJAX, .Net, Application Servers, Middleware

I heard about Volta last week and to be honest, I had no idea what it was. “Tier-splitting” sounds interesting but I wasn’t sure how it would be used in the real world. The blogosphere soundbyte of “Microsoft’s GWT” got me more confused. Ed has a very good writeup with a lot of good developer information but he focuses on the Ajax part of Volta. One of the most interesting posts was actually by Mary Jo Foley back before MIX 07. She talked about the rumored project Volta:

The Tesla folks are working on a project code-named “Volta.” Volta is all about compiling any MSIL (Microsoft Intermediate Language) assembly into cross-browser-compatible JavaScript. That means by using existing .Net and SQL Server tools, developers — at least in theory, will be able to write a single-tier, client-based application that will be able to be repurposed as a distributed Ajax application.

Again, an Ajax reference. There are definitely some similarities. With GWT (Google Web Toolkit) you write Java and compiles it into JavaScript. Volta lets you take .NET code and do the same thing. But there’s more to Volta. For one, the “tier-splitting” nature of Volta means you can write in .NET and then tell the compiler which code to run on the client (say, in JavaScript) and which to keep on the server. Okay, that’s cool, but why is this applicable to rich Internet applications?

Microsoft is doing some really interesting things with how data is stored and accessed. Bill Gates and Ray Ozzie have often said you shouldn’t care where your data lives (in the cloud, on your desktop) just that you have access to it. I think that’s becoming a very fundamental part of rich Internet applications. From what I can tell, Volta is directed at that. The Volta blog says “he focus of Volta is on extending the .NET platform to cover the Cloud, hence the essence of Volta is to enable multi-tier and asynchronous programming via declarative attribution and MSIL to MSIL rewriting.” Half of that is gobblyde-gook to me, but Volta does all of a sudden make it very easy to tailor your application so parts of it run in the cloud and parts of it run in the client. In theory it would be easy to refactor your application as needs change or as functionality wanes and waxes on the client or server. But it’s bigger than that.

Ed drew out the most important part of Volta. In a paper called “Democratizing the Cloud” [PDF] the architect of Volta, Erik Meijer, says that when no CLR is available on the client, Volta will use what’s already there. That means that the .NET application you’ve written could use Silverlight when it exists, but when it doesn’t you could use Ajax or Flash. Writing Flash in .NET isn’t a new idea, but coming from Microsoft it’s a big step. I don’t believe Flash is actually supported yet, but it sounds like they’re thinking about it.

So with Volta developers can write in .NET code and then (relatively simply) deploy different parts of their application to the server and to the client in whatever client-side technology they want. There are still big questions about whether you can use this to achieve some of the results you want. But what this does is abstract the client/server development model so that you don’t have to think about the cloud, it’s all one code base. This is very in line with the idea of your data “just being accessible when you want it” but for developers. Volta is still an experiment and may not see the light of day but it’s an interesting concept and when taken in the context of things like Silverlight and Sync, it fits a trend. I also could be totally crazy, so if you have any thoughts, I’d love to hear them :). Also, Gilbert Corrales has some good thoughts.

November 5th, 2007

The WPF component market is hot

Posted by Ryan Stewart @ 10:53 pm

Categories: .NET 3.0, Microsoft, Rich Internet Applications, WPF, Windows Presentation Foundation

Tags: Component, Microsoft Windows Presentation Foundation, Story, XamChart, Blendables, Ryan Stewart

In the past week I’ve gotten a couple of emails about companies that are releasing components for the .NET Framework/Windows Presentation Foundation. Infragistics, the big component vendor, was the first announcing a series of components for WPF and ASP.NET AJAX. One of the more interesting components for WPF is XamChart. XamChart is an entire set of charting components that allows the developer to create both 2D charts and 3D charts. They’ve also released a component called XamRibbon which puts some of the functionality of the famous Ribbon menuing from Office 2007 into the hands of developers. The new components add to an already impressive array of Infragistics components for WPF which include a DataGrid and custom editors. [More Info]

The second announcement came from IdentityMine which has partnered with Conchango to offer an enterprise license of their Blendables Essentials Mix. Blendables is a series of components that came out of some of the custom development work that Identity Mine is doing. They’ve got a ton of WPF talent and for the most part the Blendables Essentials Mix consists of things that the developers have used over and over again and decided to make available to the public. With the Conchango deal they now have a good distribution model that should reach more developers.

Both of these shops are Microsoft-heavy but the speed with which they jumped into the component market for RIAs is a good thing. What’s also interesting is that both companies are looking at ways to use the components they release for WPF as Silverlight components. Silverlight could benefit a ton from the large number of components that will be built for WPF. The component story is probably the first of many instances where the synergy between Silverlight and WPF make for easy enhancements to the other’s platform.

October 26th, 2007

Vista sells! More WPF apps coming?

Posted by Ryan Stewart @ 1:06 am

Categories: .NET 3.0, Microsoft, Rich Internet Applications, WPF, Windows Presentation Foundation

Tags: Desktop, Microsoft Windows Presentation Foundation, Microsoft Windows Vista, Microsoft Windows Vista (Longhorn), Operating Systems, Microsoft Windows, Software, Ryan Stewart

I feel like I’m in a time warp. Crazy valuations on companies and now Microsoft is reporting amazing financial results. It’s party time! If you didn’t see, Microsoft blew away analysts revenue targets on the back of some very strong Vista and Office sales. Sometimes it’s nice to see the tech pundits eat a little crow. I really like Vista and I’ve got it running on every machine at home I can (it kills the battery on my Mac Book Pro too quickly to use regularly). I also got the Xbox Media Extender working and am loving the Vista->Xbox integration.

So now that we know people are actually buying Vista, what’s going to be the story for Windows Presentation Foundation? I’ve seen a lot of internet chatter about there being a lack of good WPF apps out there because of a lack of an installed user base. That actually runs contrary to what I’ve heard from shops like IdentityMine and Cynergy who have seen strong demand for WPF applications. I get the sense that most of these are on the business side and less on the consumer side however.

Will we start seeing more consumer-facing WPF applications a la the British Library’s app? I hope so. The desktop continues to get a lot of attention and this should help keep the momentum going. I think there is actually a reasonable split between what applications should be built in WPF and which ones should be built on things like Adobe AIR. With a bigger WPF user base it should mean that designers everywhere can help keep the user experience bar high and deliver some cool RIAs and start leveraging 3D more. I’m also very interested to see how this could affect XBAPs, the “WPF-in-the-browser” deployment mechanism which lets you create browser-based RIAs in WPF.

October 3rd, 2007

Microsoft opens the .NET Framework libraries

Posted by Ryan Stewart @ 11:12 am

Categories: .NET 3.0, Silverlight, WPF

Tags: Developer, Microsoft .NET Framework, Library, Microsoft Corp., .Net, Software Development, Software/Web Development, Ryan Stewart

Something good for developers today from Microsoft. They’re releasing up the source code for the .NET Framework libraries. They aren’t open sourcing it because you can’t modify or distribute the source, but it’s going to give developers some insight into how the framework was built and will help with debugging as well. The code will be provided with the and Visual Studio 2008 which will be released later in the year.

What’s cool for RIA developers is that the Windows Presentation Foundation libraries will be included in the open release. That means you can get a look at how the WPF controls were built and also aid in the debugging and creation of WPF applications. I’m not sure which parts (if) any of the Silverlight libraries would be included, but Scott alludes to other libraries that might be opened up. It’s all being released under the Microsoft Reference License.

It’s a good move to make Microsoft more open, but the ultimate beneficiaries will be developers. I think it also has wider implications for the RIA world. RIA technologies are generally becoming more open. Flex is open sourced, WPF is now more open, the ActionScript Virtual Machine is open sourced (as the Tamarin project). One of the big complaints is that RIA technologies aren’t open and standards based, but there seems to be a move more in that direction. Hopefully the web-crowd will recognize that and respond accordingly.

July 23rd, 2007

IronRuby pre-alpha release available

Posted by Ryan Stewart @ 2:40 pm

Categories: .NET 3.0, Microsoft, Silverlight, WPF

Tags: Developer, Adobe Systems Inc., Microsoft .NET, Microsoft Corp., Ryan Stewart

John Lam and Scott Guthrie both have posts about the pre-alpha availability of IronRuby, a Ruby implementation for .NET. IronRuby is one of four languages that will be supported in .NET via the Dynamic Language Runtime (DLR) that Microsoft announced at MIX. The others are IronPython, JavaScript and Dynamic VB. According to Scott there is a lot that isn’t supported yet but most of the core language support is implemented. The release today is primarily aimed at developers. Microsoft is going to accept source code contributions to the IronRuby libraries so this early build gives those developers who are interested in contributing a chance to check it out and start hacking away.

Why does this matter?
The release today is a pretty geeky one and a read through of John and Scott’s posts may be a bit over your head (it’s a bit over mine in places). But there’s a couple of significant points here. Because the .NET runtime is no longer limited to Windows thanks to Silverlight, this news affects any developer who wants to create cross-platform applications. But it also shows that Microsoft is continuing to fight for new types of developers. This release gives Ruby developers a stake in WPF and Silverlight. The pre-alpha brings them into the process very early and means they can now quickly start tinkering with .NET.

Giving developers flexibility seems to be the name of the game right now. We (Adobe) are doing it with Adobe AIR with support for HTML and Flash and Microsoft is doing it with it’s significant support of dynamic languages such as Python and Ruby. In the end, I think this is all good for developers and hopefully you guys feel that both Microsoft and Adobe are empowering you to create cool things. That’s what it’s about.

March 26th, 2007

Support for XBAP in Mozilla Firefox is coming

Posted by Ryan Stewart @ 1:10 pm

Categories: .NET 3.0, Microsoft, Rich Internet Applications, WPF, Windows Presentation Foundation, XBAP

Tags:

At an event today on Microsoft's campus, Ian Ellison-Tayler, the WPF Product Unit Manager mentioned that XBAP support is coming to Mozilla Firefox as part of the .NET Framework 3.5 update that will ship with Visual Studio "Orcas". I've covered XBAPs in the past, but for those who aren't familiar, XBAP stands for XAML Browser Application and they are essentially Windows Presentation Foundation applications that are deployed as browser applications. Up to now, they've only been supported with IE7 but this news means they'll be available to a wider audience.

I think this is huge for RIA developers. While most of you know my affinity for rich internet applications on the desktop, I realize that the browser is still a platform of choice for many people. It's convenient and universal. For most of the people who see the browser that way, Firefox is really the only game in town. So while you could create an XBAP application and have full WPF functionality in your browser, most people wouldn't use it. Now however, the WPF browser experience can be used in both Firefox and IE7 which makes the potential audience for that type of deployment much greater. It makes WPF a very rich browser technology and a viable Rich Internet Application solution for Windows users.

Therein lies the kicker. The .NET 3.0 runtime is huge, and the .NET 3.5 runtime (which is what will support XBAPs in Firefox) will be even larger. It comes installed with Vista, and while Vista seems to be doing well, there are still a lot of Windows XP machines that won't have the .NET runtime installed. Trying to deploy a browser application that requires a 50 meg download on top of the actual application isn't viable. The .NET runtime just doesn't have the reach right now, but Windows is still a huge chunk of the market, and as Vista penetration grows and/or more people bite the bullet and download the .NET Framework, XBAPs may become a powerful way to deliver RIAs in the browser.

February 26th, 2007

A list of Rich Internet Application Technologies for the Digg crowd

Posted by Ryan Stewart @ 12:14 pm

Categories: .NET 3.0, Adobe, Apollo, Expression Studio, Flex, Microsoft, OpenLaszlo, Rich Internet Applications, WFP/E, WPF, Windows Presentation Foundation, Windows Presentation Foundation/Everywhere

Tags:

This comment thread made me realize that there is still a lot of confusion about what the different RIA technologies do. Statements like "Flex is Adobe's AJAX offering." or "Flex is like a weak version of WPF/E when it comes down to it." just show people haven't quite grasped where all of these technologies fit. Hopefully this can shed some light.

OpenLaszlo - An open source Rich Internet Application technology. The IDE is Eclipse-based, you write a combination of XML and ECMA Script (called LZX) to build the UI and add functionality. With OpenLaszlo 4, you can deploy OpenLaszlo applications as either Flash apps or DHTML/Ajax apps.

Flex 2 - An application framework that enables developers to easily write apps on the Flash platform. Does not require a server, uses an Eclipse plugin as the IDE and requires Flash Player 9 for the user to run apps. The XML user interface language is called MXML and the scripting language is ActionScript, an ECMA standard. Good solution for building applications entirely in Flash. Flash Player 9 is currently available for Mac, Windows and Linux.

"WPF/E" - Microsoft's cross platform rich internet application runtime, still in beta. Currently the main focus is on web video. The IDE is a combination of Visual Studio and Microsoft Expression studio (Microsoft's design tools). XAML is the XML based user interface and currently JavaScript is the scripting language. There is also talk that .NET code will be added so it can be used as the scripting language. "WPF/E" is only a small subset of the .NET 3.0 framework, so right now it's ideal for adding a bit of rich functionality to Ajax applications but not building entire WPF/E applications. Currently runs on Mac and Windows for all major browsers.

Apollo - Adobe's unreleased cross-platform desktop runtime. Provides APIs in JavaScript and ActionScript that hook into operating system and allow for file I/O, system tray notification, native window manipulation and online/offline synchronization. Still in alpha so not all of the functionality has been decided. Applications can be written in either Ajax or Flex/Flash. Version 1.0 will run on Mac and Windows. Ideal for desktop applications that need to be cross platform.

Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) - Part of the new version of the .NET Framework. The IDE is a combination of Visual Studio (the next version, "Orcas" has integrated support for WPF) and Expression Studio and the UI language is XAML. WPF Supports native 3D acceleration and can be deployed as a browser application called XBAP. Meant for giving developers the ability to build great looking desktop applications. Currently only runs on Windows Vista and Windows XP.

February 23rd, 2007

With their RIA tech, Microsoft could toast Google in the SaaS world

Posted by Ryan Stewart @ 2:24 pm

Categories: .NET 3.0, Ajax, Google, Microsoft, Rich Internet Applications, WFP/E, WPF, Windows Presentation Foundation, Windows Presentation Foundation/Everywhere

Tags:

I have to hand it to Phil, he called me out and pwned me. He gave perfect examples of why data is not necessarily safer in the users hands than it would be with Google. I still think there's something to be said for knowing that I'm responsible for my own files, but I'm willing to concede that may be more smoke and mirrors. But there is also some valid commentary today that Google apps doesn't really compete head to head. This is very true, because to be honest, Microsoft isn't really in this business of delivering office applications over the web. But they could be, and they could be a huge player.

But if Google Apps really does take off, I think Microsoft is in a great position. I've been following the Live initiative at a distance, but I'm definitely not an expert on it, so I haven't been tracking the marketing or the product as closely as I could. That said, I think with their suite of RIA technologies, Microsoft is the best positioned out of anyone in the tech world to provide software as a service.

First off, take a look at ASP.NET Ajax, a technology that has been getting good reviews from the Ajax community. As far as I've been able to tell, the Live services have been primarily Ajax. "WPF/E" uses JavaScript and ties in very nicely to add a bit of richness to simple Ajax applications. So Microsoft could compete with Google, but Google's JavaScript dominance probably won't allow Microsoft to wow anyone.

But think about WPF. Yes, you're locked into Windows. I continue to think that's a bad move, but I realize there are still a lot of all-Windows shops that might be looking at an SaaS solution. Windows Presentation Foundation is meant for building Windows applications, but the kinds of windows apps that are being created are much more lightweight than I think most people realize. Expression Blend is built on WPF and the MSI installer is 11 megs. 11 megs for the entire application. That's insane. And WPF also offers a very robust development model with XBAPs (which stands for XAML Browser Applications). You need to be using Internet Explorer, but you can browse to WPF applications and run them right in the browser like any other web app. The only difference is that the experience blows Ajax away. Imagine running Blend or a lightweight WPF version of Office as an XBAP. Tie it in with server-based storage and I don't think Google could compete.

Microsoft has the software expertise to make a splash. I'm not sure what the strategy for Live is, or even WPF is. But if you can combine Microsoft's software with a more modern deployment model, you would be able to make huge inroads. With their Rich Internet Application technologies, that's much closer to a reality that it has been before. Will it happen? Doubtful, but I think all the pieces are there.

February 22nd, 2007

A new WPF reader application by Identity Mine

Posted by Ryan Stewart @ 12:30 am

Categories: .NET 3.0, Identity Mine, Rich Internet Applications, WPF, Windows Presentation Foundation

Tags:

We've heard a lot of good things so far about the New York Times reader that Microsoft and the NYT Co. worked to put together to showcase WPF technologies. Now an independent firm, Identity Mine has taken the idea and run with it creating branded reading experiences built on Windows Presentation Foundation technology. With their reader, companies can bring their content to the desktop in the form of a Rich Internet Application.

The official announcement is coming tomorrow, but this looks to be a pretty solid application and they've lined up some great launch content with Forbes and the Seattle Post Intelligencer. And they've gone beyond the scope of the New York Times reader by incorporating other features of Vista like the Side Bar to bring the reading experience to users at a lot of different touch points. The reader has everything you'd expect including updating and auto-synchronization so you can take your content with you. It incorporates Vista's desktop search so that you can easily find articles and the layout engine is tailored so that it fits on a variety of screens.

Identity Mine gave a presentation about WPF at Ignite Seattle and it's a company that I'm going to be keeping a close eye on. I think we're starting to see an ecosystem built around WPF just like we saw one with Flash in the beginning. It looks like designers and developers are doing interesting things with the platform and the tools that Microsoft has created. I think this bodes well for the Windows Presentation Foundation, especially as Vista gets out to more customers. Rich Internet Applications on the desktop are getting better and better.