The Universal Desktop

Universal Desktop Daily - Thursday, November 16, 2006

Posted in:

.NET 3.0
Adobe
Flash
Flex
Microsoft
Rich Internet Applications
Universal Desktop Daily
Windows Presentation Foundation
Windows Presentation Foundation/Everywhere

I saw that we have a new Microsoft blog, Web.Next which will cover the next generation of Microsoft technologies starting with WPF/E. From the post: "I know that there are a lot of questions on this technology, and there isn't a lot that I can talk about right now -- but --- very soon there will be a tonne of content coming your way!" That's what I like to hear.
Bad News for WPF on Mono, Novell's cross-platform implementation of the .Net Framework. When Microsoft and Novell announced their agreement, I started hearing about Mono and had high hopes for Windows Presentation Foundation on Linux. But in an article in Computing, Miguel de Icaza, vice president of product technology at Novell put a damper on that. The article reads " Most of what Microsoft calls .Net Framework 3.0 is due to be implemented in Mono, with the exception of the Windows Presentation Foundation, which de Icaza says is “over-engineered, over-architected, and too large” . Even that may come if market forces require it." I'm holding out for the market forces that I hold so dearly to win out.
Some information on SAPs new User Interface for NetWeaver was published on SAP Info today. SAP is heavily using Adobe technologies as part of their platform, and from what I here there are some very good examples coming that showcase how powerful RIAs can be in the enterprise.
I have no clue what Adobe Kuler is, but it's strangely engaging. Obviously it's for designers, but it's a very well done way to present color in a Rich Internet Application. I'm a big fan of the Ravenclaw palette by jsaul.
Microsoft and Sprint announced a partnership that will allow Microsoft to distribute parts of their application platform on Sprint's infrastructure. One of the things that I think Microsoft has that no one else does is breadth of platform, and this is an example of that. From the Xbox to the PC, Microsoft has a lot of ground covered. That's extremely compelling for content providers.
David Hornik over on Venture Blog has an anecdotal story about Software as a Service that makes a good point. This is why RIAs get me so pumped up. We can bring that flexibility and wrap a fantastic user experience around it. The bridge between the web and the desktop can be very, very powerful.

posted by Ryan Stewart
November 16, 2006 @ 1:10 am

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