We need feedback!  Take a look at the new Patterns and Practices Application Architecture Guide and let us know what you think.  Its now beta 1, and we are ready to hear what you think.  Below is the official announcement.

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Today we released our patterns & practices App Arch Guide 2.0 Beta 1. This is our guide to help solution architects and developers make the most of the Microsoft platform. It's a distillation of many lessons learned. It’s principle-based and pattern-oriented to provide a durable, evolvable backdrop for application architecture. It's a collaborative effort among product team members, field, industry experts, MVPs, and customers. Keep in mind it’s Beta so there’s still moving parts and we’re processing quite a bit of feedback across the guide. Now’s the time to bang on it.

This is the conceptual framework we use to organize the information:

Key Scenarios

· Choose the right architecture for your application.

· Choose the right technologies.

· Make more effective choices for key engineering decisions.

· Map appropriate strategies and patterns.

· Map relevant patterns & practices solution assets.

Key Features of the Guide

• Canonical app frame - describes at a meta-level, the tiers and layers that an architect should consider. Each tier/layer is described in terms of its focus, function, capabilities, common design patterns and technologies.
•  App Types. Canonical application archetypes to illustrate common application types. Each archetype is described in terms of the target scenarios, technologies, patterns and infrastructure it contains. Each archetype will be mapped to the canonical app frame. They are illustrative of common app types and not comprehensive or definitive.
•  Arch Frame - a common set of categories for hot spots for key engineering decisions.
• Quality Attributes - a set of qualities/abilities that shape your application architecture: performance, security, scalability, manageability, deployment, communication, etc.
• Principles, patterns and practices - Using the frames as backdrops, the guide overlays relevant principles, patterns, and practices.
• Technologies and capabilities - a description/overview of the Microsoft custom app dev platform and the main technologies and capabilities within it.