I was in Las Vegas last week for MIX10, Microsoft’s conference for web designers and developers.  This was my first time at this particular conference.

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The event was top notch and there were many exciting announcements.  Here is the highlight reel:

  1. Windows Phone 7 development = Silverlight (for rich interactive applications) or XNA (for 3D immersive gaming).  Development tools for Windows Phone development were made available for free:

      2. - Visual Studio 2010 Express for Windows Phone

      - Windows Phone 7 Series Add-in for Visual Studio, for developers already working with Visual Studio 2010

      - Windows Phone 7 Series emulator (so you can develop/test without physical Windows Phone hardware)

      - Expression Blend for Windows Phone, a professional design tool for creating visually rich UX applications using the .NET Framework

  2. Silverlight 4 is now available as a release candidate, as well as Expression Blend 4 beta.  Developers can write once, optimize everywhere to deliver RIA experiences across browsers (and out of browser).  There were great examples (e.g., eBay, Associated Press, Netflix) demonstrated at MIX that showed off Silverlight and it is fantastic to have the same developer experience across PC and phone (this really appealed to design agencies).
  3. The Internet Explorer 9 Platform Preview was released, featuring GPU-powered HTML5, a new JavaScript engine and increased interoperability.  Leveraging the local hardware to improve the web experience is a great move.
  4. Microsoft ‘Dallas’ took a step forward in enabling ‘Data as a Service’.  By using OData, a standards-based approach to data portability, developers can use the language of their choice to easily access and share datasets to create new Web applications
  5. We released .toolbox, a free online training program where designers and developers can learn to create Silverlight applications using Expression Studio and to apply basic UX concepts to their solutions.  Here is a fun intro.
  6. The Windows Azure Toolkit for Facebook provides a flexible and scalable cloud computing platform for Facebook applications. Leveraging the cloud computing model allows you to avoid re-architecting the solution if it goes viral. 
  7. The Microsoft User Experience Kit provides design examples for technical and creative leads who want to better understand the tools, technologies, and scenarios that span Microsoft’s User Experience ecosystem. 

The event was high quality and loaded with information.  It was great to connect with design agencies and other partners there as well.