In the interests of lifting the signal-to-noise ratio (at the very least starting a flamewar on something relevant), my thoughts on SL3 (just OTTOMH, OK?):
* SQL engine in the isolated storage (ala Gears). OK with Linq and serialization there is probably an equivalent amount of querying/storage functionality, but just maybe this would still be useful? Even as i type it, it sounds less interesting... * Geography CLR types from Katmai. Mapping and location-based apps are only going to get more common - and the Katmai types are pretty functional even on their own (ie without SQL08 'behind them'). Assuming a SL2 VirtualEarth 'control' appears (and even if it doesn't), being able to perform geo stuff might be useful on the client. While you're at it - decouple them from Katmai altogether and put in the regular framework. Linq to LatLong...? * Photosynth (and 3D engine)... OK, I reckon it'll be there anyway, but worth a mention. AFAICT taking DeepZoom to the "next level" will require some sort of 3D engine to layout the MultiScaleImages that make up a Photosynth scene in 3D space anyway. 3D plus the Geography stuff would enable a cool 'silverlightearth' viewer... * Higher level controls (either from MS or 3rd parties in SL2)... bitmap image manipulation, Xaml editor host (ie abstract object-based-drawing control), advanced TextBox. See buzzword.com, photoshop.com/express, blist.com for the sorts of Flash apps that would be cool to enable in SL3. Extend the controlset to toolbars, provide 'windowing' of property sheets, pinnable 'windows', etc inside the SL control/canvas. A 'window' control may sound counter-intuitive, but then why write the docking/pinning/hiding/minimizing/tabbing over & over. We're already using SL1 for an cut-down-enterprise-like app... * Outside of browser activation - just because AIR does. Input handling would need to trap mouse-wheel; how about multitouch (Silverlight on Surface? iPhone?) * SL2/3 on mobile... i'm sure that's coming anyway too. Are there any plans for special UI handling on phones - trapping the softkeys differently on small-screen nokias for eg.? Are the built-in controls 'screen size aware' (like the old mobile asp.net controls... not that i think that's necessarily a good idea, but would save us work if the calendar control behaved differently on Vista versus s60, for eg.). * file format handlers (like the vista preview handlers) - show me PDF, OOXML, XPS, etc read-only but searchable/selectable (if the underlying doc security allows)... handle _files_ as well as it does _media_. * i've seen discussion of an up/downsizer where you deploy a common Xaml 'app' to WPF/Silverlight... not sure how realistic that is - but Acropolis and Entity Framework (and MVC?) seem like a good basis for separating presentation from logic enough to accomplish it... There's probably plenty of DLR ideas around too - haven't had a chance to play with that. I would have said unit testing & more 'software engineering' infrastructure if i didn't recently see the tests, etc for the controls being made available. _that_ is cool. ...my 2c worth ;-) cd http://www.conceptdevelopment.net ------------------------------------------------------------------- OzSilverlight.com - to unsubscribe from this list, send a message back to the list with 'unsubscribe' as the subject. Powered by mailenable.com - List managed by www.readify.net
