My list of interesting stuff at PDC2005
My laundry list of product/technology/features that I liked at PDC (based mostly on keynotes):
Product/Technology:
- Visual Studio Team System and Team Foundation Server (hey, it is my product :)) - This will give IBM Rational run for their bucks.
- Windows Presentation Foundation (a.k.a. Avalon) and XAML - The next generation mind-blowing UI
- Expression suite (Acryllic, Sparkle and Quartz) - The new super cool designer!
- Linq - Native syntax for database query built into the language!!!
- WinFS - The new relational file system for Windows.
Windows Vista Features:
- Quick search based on WinFS is everywhere even in Start menu where it can filter the "All Programs" list.
- Hovering mouse over minimized window in task bar (or ALT+TAB action) gives the live preview of the window.
- Sidebar and gadgets - For Microsoft employees, this is the old "Sideshow"
- There will be "Parental Control" on the PC so you can set permission what you kids can and cannot do.
- The super fetch cache and auto-defragmentation features for better performance. One can even add a USB drive to your laptop to increase the cache memory!
Office Features:
- The new result oriented UI a.k.a Ribbons!
- There is live preview of formatting changes (like font) as you select it. There is no need to apply the change to check it out.
- Excel: The data in cells can be graphically visualized in various ways inside the cell. For example, one can add a bar graph to bunch of cells inside the cell itself.
- Outlook: Preview pane for attachment inside Outlook. No need to double click on the attachments!!!
- Outlook: RSS reader built in Outlook
- Sharepoint: Built in RSS feed feature and in conjunction with the above, ability to have all documents offline in Outlook
Obviously, there were lots and lots of other interesting stuff.