MIX ‘09 Keynote – Part 2

More stuff on the Web server side of the equation. There is a new version of the Web Platform Installer. This doesn’t have any impact on me, at least not in the past. But there is now a gallery of community-based applications, such as DotNetNuke, DasBlog and WordPress that can be automatically installed onto a web server through the Platform Installer. Not useful to me, but nice to people who are trying to streamline the build-out of a Web server. You can see a list of these applications here.

Silverlight 3.0 has some new functionality to improve functionality. There will be hardware-based acceleration for compositing, where available. And there are a number of features aimed at improving the media experience. A gentleman from NBC came out and showed some stats on the Beijing Olympics and Silverlight. As well, NBC will do the same for the Vancouver Olympics. Forgive me for not caring, as none of this is available in Canada.

You will probably hear that Silverlight has 3D functionality. A warning that it is not true 3D, but the ability to move a 2D image in three dimensions. The actual term is ‘perspective transform’. If you have to ask about the difference, then you probably don’t care. But for those that do, visualize a flat-screen image that can be rotated about the X-, Y-, or Z-axis so that it appears to be spinning. Hit testing works appropriately (you can only click on the image, regardless of how it is oriented.

Silverlight 3.0 will provide a better experience for SEO. This includes the capability of supporting deep linking and navigation.

Going back to the idea that support for a sketch-based workflow, Expression Blend 3 will have a features called SketchFlow. This feature allows for easy navigation through a collection of pages. The interface allows for quick and simple creation of the workflow through an application. Each state in the workflow corresponds to a page.

One of the things that is interesting about the creation of the pages in a workflow is the inclusion of Wiggly controls. These are controls that, through their appearance, will not be mistaken for a completed application. The borders on the controls take on the appearance of a hand-drawn image. Yet the controls are still real WPF controls, meaning that they work in the Blend and, indeed, when the applications is ‘run’ through the SketchFlow prototyping tool..