Hi, Since Microsoft needs to win over the hearts and minds of developers for its latest XAML world domination scheme Microsoft has flooded the blogsphere with an army of Avalon bloggers.
Robert Scoble (aka The Scobleizer) sums up Microsoft's latest desperate attempt to fend off the Free World by copying its working style in the blog story titled "How to Hate Microsoft" online @ http://longhornblogs.com/scobleizer/posts/345.aspx Robert writes: See, next week we're doing something different. We're asking you to help us improve Longhorn so it's an operating system that you can't hate. Why is this a massive change? Everytime we've released a version of Windows before we kept it secret. We made anyone who saw it sign an NDA (non-disclosure agreement). Even many of those of you who signed NDAs weren't really given full access to the development teams and often if you were, it was too late to really help improve the product. Let me explain. I've only been a Microsoft employee for five months. Back in the good old days I was a beta tester. First with Windows 95 and NT, later with 98, ME, 2000, and XP. I never really got to work with the development teams while the software was in a “pre-beta” state. I never had a weblog where I could tell them “I hate the UI” years before the software will ship. Yeah, we had secret newsgroups back in the good old days. Some of us even got invited to meet with the development teams. But, never did Microsoft ask me to write on my public weblog all of its dirty laundry so that it could improve. Next week, that's exactly what we're asking for. Tear into Longhorn and tell us what you think. We're giving our developers open access to a very recent build of Longhorn. Just days old at this point. And we want you to hate it. Openly. On your weblog. Tell us what's wrong with it. What can be improved about it. On Monday we'll open up newsgroups where you can talk directly to the product teams here and tell us what you hate about Longhorn. We'll be there, listening. Taking notes. Having conversations with you. Why is it different this time around? Because when it ships, we want it to be a product that's impossible to hate. Now to get back to reality allow me to quote Kevin Burton's (of NewsMonster and Apache Jetspeed fame) answer: Sorry... it doesn't work that way. If you want us to help you improve your products you need to do the following first: * Open Source your operating system. * Demonstrate good faith by not strip mining your competitors. Show some ethics for god sakes. * Start shipping code that's secure. Until that point I don't see any reason to help improve Microsoft products when I can use OS X or Linux. It's really just all about karma! Now that you're warned about Microsoft's latest scheme on to the Avalon XAML blogger round-up: * Rob Relyea (Avalon Program Manager, XAML "spec owner", Avalon Architect Team Member) ==================================================================================== Blog @ http://longhornblogs.com/rrelyea XAML story sampling: - XAML Tour - XAML: Element Trees, Element Trees + Logic, or Class Definition - Avalon's 5 Element Families Quotes: XAML is a markup language that can be used on Longhorn for many things including creating desktop apps, web pages, and printable documents. * Chris Anderson (Avalon Core Developer, Avalon Architect Team Member) ==================================================================== Blog @ http://simplegeek.com XAML story sampling: - Why doesn't UIElement derive from XmlElement? - Dynamic UI - XAML and the web - Another view on XUL - More on Avalon Styling... and CSS... - Response in some XUL newsgroups - Of styles and styling - Is XAML just data? - A brief history of XAML Quotes: We are past the world of generating static snapshots of display and blasting them down to a client. My not-to-hidden agenda here is simple - dynamic applications should be dynamic on the client. The server should send data - either through web services, database access, or any other wire protocol - and the client should consume that data and generate UI. The model of a server trying to generate the correct display for a client is just broken. I'm a bit confused by the concern that Microsoft is somehow trying to threaten or take over the web with the introduction of a markup language to program Windows applications. XAML is a new programming model for the next release of Windows, code named "Longhorn". That's it. * Filipe Fortes (Avalon Program Manager) ====================================== Blog @ http://longhornblogs.com/ffortes XAML story sampling: - Custom Layouts in Avalon - XAMLXAMLXAMLXAML * Joe Beda (Avalon Core Graphics Developer) ========================================= Blog @ http://eightypercent.net XAML story sampling: - Avalon, XAML and SVG - Avalon Media FAQs Quotes: Our rendering model is very much like that of SVG. Our markup isn't the same mostly because XAML is a direct reflection of the programming model. Our object model (OM) doesn't match the SVG DOM because we choose to go with an object model that more closely matches what *we think* our users expect. XHTML and SVG both have image elements. We avoid this duplicity. Text is another area where we avoid a large amount of duplication. * Zhanbo Sun (Avalon Team Member) =============================== Blog @ http://blogs.gotdotnet.com/zhanbos/ XAML story sampling: - Avalon FAQ: Host Html Pages in Avalon - Event Handler in XAML File - Code Behind File In Avalon - Role of Internet Explorer (in Running HelloPDC.xaml) - Kevin Gallo Explains Remote Desktop With Avalon Quotes: A Longhorn application can run inside or outside Internet Explorer. The support for the new programming model is implemented by Avalon rather than by Internet Explorer. Technically speaking, Internet Explorer serves as the host when HelloPDC.xaml runs. That's it. - Gerald ------------------------------------------------------- This SF.Net email sponsored by: ApacheCon 2003, 16-19 November in Las Vegas. 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