Blend

Well to me it kind of reminds me of VRML in some ways basically it is a new form of XML ( extensible markup language ), XAML (Extensible Application Markup Language) resides on the Vista presentation framework otherwise known as Avalon. Vista is impressive and it will be a paradigm shift especially compared to older versions of windows. M$ (Microsoft) is also planning on stepping into the multimedia ring with Sparkle. Sparkle does look very impressive and I am looking forward too playing with its capabilities. I also noticed they are making the presentation layer cross platform which I believe is definitely a step in the right direction for Microsoft. I do have to say Vista is like a great big Apple rip off with hefty requirements (128mb of vram suggested 256mb). Vista borrows many of apples innovations like a dashboard, widgets, etc.. With a $100 million marketing push it will be interesting too see what happens. I have questions myself if the public in general is ready to handle such a beast of an operating system. It will also ship without the fabled WinFS and M$ is also making vista extremely secure.

If you are interested in XAML (pronounced Zaaml) I have come across an interesting beta from erain the makers of Swift 3d, ZAM 3D is a tool for creating XAML 3D might be worth your time. It will be very interesting to see what happens in the next few years. I kind of think M$ is overextending themselves but it is hard to say. You also have to look at Adobe they recently acquired Macromedia and they do in my opinion have the best developer tools hands down. I believe this combination will make technologies like coldfusion and flash arena really shine. Flash 8 was recently released and has a plethora of raster functions familiar to many in Photoshop now directly incorporated into flash. I also know that adobe and macromedia have made the most successful web based 3D tools for example Director and Atmosphere it will be very interesting to see what they do in the next few years. Flash is also widely integrated into cell phones, pdas, etc…