Windows 7 coming soon? Microsoft to Drop Vista? WPF no longer supported?
by Don Burnett
Okay I am just tired of hearing these kinds of things, so I am going to speak on this subject. I am only going to do it once, and speak to what is publicly known on this subject. Some people have asked why they should upgrade to Vista too, I have several answers for that question..
Questions and statements that I am hearing from various parties that are local to me..
From a consultant who claims to be a Microsoft Business Consultant:
"You XP users don't need to move to Vista. Microsoft is doing Windows Seven and it will be out next year. Vista is such a flop and it won't last it's still too buggy to use"
I am not going to get into this argument because it's just wrong and unproductive. It's being made mostly by administrators who lack money for hardware updating and their hardware is three to four years old way past their prime and wants to stay with cheap hardware, even though his installation is probably way past the lifecycle of business computing (which now is on average three years.. I can only say that some people at the top say if customer response is such they will keep supporting XP another year beyond it's own product lifecycle.
That should stop the non-Vista complaints for the XP commited. Microsoft does listen to their customers needs and requirements that's one of the best things about their company..
If you are a consumer and don't like the new UI Vista gives you there is a simple solution for this..
- Don't like the security pop-ups (they protect you further but if you are annoyed Turn OFF UAC
- Go under user accounts and disable it..
- Don't like the new 3d Glass Look?
- Go to the control panel and change to any other theme including "Windows Classic"
Then your look will be the theme you picked out.. In my case CLASSIC WINDOWS...
In fact if you buy Vista Basic, it's designed for a smaller footprint, doesn't give you the AERO 3d interface and for the most part (except it's more secure from spyware and viruses) seems just like good old XP Home... Even the control panel shows up like it's old self, just with a bunch of new sort options.. Vista is very versatile and you can make it look anyway you want it to..
A message for the "Vista is too Buggy to Use.." folks
As far as it being buggy, we are over a year into Vista now, most hardware drivers issues are over with even in the 64-bit arena. There are drivers everywhere now, ones that don't take down performance or crash. On top of that now there is Service Pack 1 which has a new kernel (the same one in Windows Server 2008), and the performance has been improved especially on newer 64-bit hardware. It's not the same Vista you remember launching at the end of 2006. Just get the right version for you.. Stop talking about it if you haven't tried it lately.
Windows 7 Next Year? How about the folks claiming "WPF will be gone in three years..."
How about .NET 3.5 Service Pack 1 this year with new controls and enhanced performance. Microsoft already said it's happening.. It was announced as WPF service pack 1 at Mix 08 during Scott Guthrie's Keynote.. Tim Sneath talked about some of the new features in his blog (note: this is some early talks on 3.5 from earlier this year, but Mr Sneath's blog is probably the first place that you will no doubt find information on 3.5 SP1, so keep a good watch on his blog for more information.. I suspect we might see more information there when it's formally announced so keep a watch there) .
Some features previously mentioned about the current 3.5 release that you might not know:
- Fixed animation glitching issues.
- Layered windows are now hardware accelerated.
- Many other fixes to improve cold start, data binding, etc.
- Support for XLINQ binding.
- Improved data validation on binding (ValidatesOnDataErrors and ValidatesOnExceptions binding properties).
- Much better debugging (PresentationTraceSources.TraceLevel can be set on bindings or providers).
- UIElement3D (enables interactive 2D content on 3D surfaces). (WOW this means real 3D User Interfaces and Custom Controls, with 2D ones mapped on their surface)
- Improved support for IMEs (input method editors).
- Indic script support.
- TextBox now supports a limited undo history.
- RichTextBox now fully supports inline elements (e.g. a Button).
- Introduced support for the Firefox browser.
- WCF now operates in partial-trust mode.
- Can now read/write HTTP cookies.
- System.AddIn provides support for isolated visual and non-visual add-ins, allowing for discovery, versioning, activation and lifecycle management
Also mentioned in the Guthrie Keynote were new WPF controls to bring it parity with Silverlight 2.0 (such as datagrids, etc.). This should appease most of the winforms developers who want to continue making drag and drop GUIs in Visual Studio and don't want to learn the complexities of WPF programming or XAML.. Also mentioned were performance increases that doesn't require programmers to revisit the code or recompile and new bitmap effects that are faster due to using the GPU for them. So, speed of loading and controls offering virtualization (like winforms) might be in the offering as well. We'll just have to wait for the official announcement.
Going,.. Going ... Gone...
I think it's fair to say even if Microsoft quits selling one or two of the versions of XP it's released (XP Pro, and Media Center Edition), that support will continue beyond the lifecycle date, due to customer demand. There isn't really a good reason not to embrace Vista, and the problems remembered are probably not there like they were a year ago. Microsoft is committed to it's new technologies and they allow Microsoft, it's programmers, and users to do something they have never done before.. Write an application that works on the desktop, on the web, on your mobile phone, and even your car. This write once deploy many strategy is very important to see as it is now possible thanks to Silverlight and the fact that Microsoft has made it really plausible to do content on any device using the same UI technology based on XAML/WPF/Silverlight, so you see folks it is not going away. Silverlight works on XP too folks...
Some more believable Proof..
If you say all that sounds great but I don't believe you.. Something big happened this week. Microsoft Health and the UK Health authority (they have nationalized Medicine) brought out a series of WPF/Silverlight custom controls to unify user interface development (both on the web and on the desktop and Mobile) for their entire country. This is giving way to new silverlight light applications, like realtime monitoring of an ECG/EKG, right in patients charts and information in realtime. Exploring the same data including animated X-rays and UltraSound with Microsoft DeepZoom technology over the web or desktop. Also full patient pathways care and administration over the web or desktop with the same high level of functionality never seen on a web application before with integration..
If you want some proof just check out this page (when you click on the demos it may take a few moments to load up, because it's loading an application, not just a page of text), but it's worth the wait to see these in action.. There are complimentary WPF (Windows Application Samples) and Silverlight applications.. Check out Secondary Care, it's most impressive.
All of this is possible with Vista and Silverlight too..
Points to remember about these demonstrations..
- The UK’s National Health organization has completely bought into Microsoft technology. The UK health organization is developing these with Microsoft.
- The source code for the controls are Microsoft public license
- The source code developed for the controls in WPF are the same in Silverlight. It’s write once deploy many.
- The Patient Journey examples are real-world tracking.. Something never quite done that well in terms of a round trip application before.
- These are examples of applications that can be overlaid atop existing healthcare applications..
- The live animations of the heart (ultrasound, ECG/EKG (as a live stream, X-Rays, etc), are very convincing arguments for healthcare organizations and realtime monitoring right in the chart is important.
- Prove can write once deploy many places, using the same programming and delivery model.
- A health organization for an entire country has made the investment and sees the potential to standardize look and feel everywhere using the same technology.
- It underscores Microsoft’s commitment to WPF and Silverlight with the controls being Microsoft Public License and available for both.
- The value of the “user control model”
Applications that do these kinds of things on the web never possible before except on a platform applications.. It's a brand new day folks, take advantage of it in your organization.. The implications are vast because of the initiatives. Also they will most likely last way beyond the three years some folks are talking about because this is a LONG TERM project to unify healthcare for that entire country.
Microsoft not committed to WPF? Hardly! It's the cornerstone of their entire platform structure and their key to "write once, deploy everywhere (desktop, web, mobile)" strategy. Where do these people come from that say these things and why? The evidence hardly supports it, especially with a .NET 3.5 service pack 1 due this year..
Note from editor: This post has been edited to reflect new and current information and to make sure that the article doesn't reflect any preliminary information that isn't correctly characterized and quoted. It is the goal of this blog to make sure all parties are properly quoted and characterized. We apologize for any confusion on that up front. The word "might" as stated before should not imply and doesn't reflect any commitment by any individuals or organizations stated or implied at this time or the future to any technologies mentioned herein the blog article. It's probably just wishful thinking on the part of the writer based on comments made to the writer. It should not be mixed up with anything actually stated or possibly inferred..
