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New Technologies Debut at PDC
Bill Gates led a keynote team that demonstrated new technologies in data access, Web development, and more.
by Bill Wagner
Microsoft Professional Developers Conference, September 2005
Tuesday's PDC keynote, led by Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates and Group VP of Platforms Jim Allchin, focused on developing software that will target Windows Vista. Vista and Office "12" are scheduled for release in the second half of 2006, Gates said. The keynote team showed off a new user interface for Office 12, and made announcements about simpler data access through the LINQ Project, a new subset of Windows Presentation Foundation (Avalon) for targeting multiple devices, and the Atlas project for ASP.NET Web development.
A few key user factors are driving these changes. First, user expectations for presentation have been set by products and platforms that are specific to user interfaces, such as Flash. Second, end users expect access to their key information from everywhere. Finally, users expect to be able to share their information from anywhere, and they expect more from their devices yet want them simpler to use. All the products and tools discussed Tuesday are tied to those end user and business manager expectations, and how you can help meet or exceed them.
Vista and Office 12
Before I get to the developer tools that you'll be using in the future to create applications, I'll give a brief overview of some of the announcements around Windows Vista and Office 12. These are important for developers because the user experience for both the platform and the flagship application set the bar that you must clear in your applications. (Remember how quickly Windows 3.1 applications appeared old and dated when Windows 95 became the standard?) I think you'll see a similar reaction when Vista adoption takes off.
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