Dr. Dobb's Journal April 2007

Windows Vista: Keep It Simple

By Jonathan Erickson

My guess is that it started in a conference room packed with sleepy-eyed marketing types tasked with coming up with yet another plan for Windows Vista. The Starbucks was steaming and a deadline was approaching. And then someone blurted, "There must be hundreds of reasons to switch to Windows Vista!" and it was downhill from there. Against all odds, the team came through, assembling a list of 100 reasons why people will say "wow" when they first see Windows Vista (www.microsoft.com/windows/products/ windowsvista/100reasons.mspx). I can't help but say that it is mind numbing to read the 100 reasons, and I can't imagine what is was like to write them. Take #74, for instance: "Because your memories need a little mood music." Criminy, are we talking about an operating system or a Hallmark card? Or #34: "Connect to the network at work or school." I could do that with plain old MS-DOS. In other words, while there are lots of reasons to adopt Windows Vista, not many of them pop up on this 100 best reasons list.

Sometimes less is better, particularly when marketing is involved. For instance, I can give you six good reasons why you ought to read this special Dr. Dobb's Journal supplement entitled "Windows Vista Now!":

1. In all likelihood, Windows Vista will be an important platform you need to know something about, whether you actively develop for it or not.
2. "Properties, Dependency Properties, and WPF," by Charles Petzold.
3. "Developing Windows Vista Sidebar Gadgets," by Mike Riley.
4. "Workflow in SharePoint 2007," by Kevin Hoffman.
5. "RAD XAML with Microsoft Expression Blend," also by Mike Riley.
6. "Windows Workflow Foundation and Web Services" by Brian Myers.

Any one of these articles will get started in a different aspect of Windows Vista. Sidebar Gadgets, those miniapplications that reside in the Sidebar area of the screen, are something you'll want to get up to speed with right away. From what I've seen, Sidebar Gadgets have the potential to create and ignite a market similar to what Visual Basic controls did a generation ago. In addition to his article on Gadgets, Mike Riley corralled David Streams, group program manager for the Windows Live team, to talk about Gadgets. His conversation and other Vista-related discussions are available as podcasts:

• "Vista Sidebar Gadget Development" (ddj.com/196902696). David describes the Sidebar platform, the development process for Sidebar Gadgets, and security models for Gadget deployment.
• "Exploring the Gadget Ecosystem" (ddj.com/196902697). David compares Gadgets to similar platforms, and explains Microsoft's expectations for how users and partners will be employing, sharing, and potentially monetizing Sidebar Gadgets.

So if you're looking a reason to jump into Vista, keep it simple. Maybe you find Vista an attractive and powerful operating environment and want to do cool stuff with it. That's fine. Or you believe Vista will be a dominant platform for the future and you want to be ready to cash in. That's okay, too. Or maybe your boss flat-out told you that you are Vista bound. Whatever.

In any event, we hope you enjoy this special issue of Dr. Dobb's Journal and learn from it. And while this issue represents our first look at Windows Vista, you can bet it won't be our last.

Jonathan Erickson

Editor-in-Chief

jerickson@ddj.com