Our Smart Client Architecture and Design guide went live from staging to MSDN on Friday 11th. Here is a short description:

Smart client applications are a powerful alternative to thin client applications. They can provide users with a rich and responsive user interface, the ability to work offline, and a way to take advantage of local hardware and software resources. This guide describes the architectural and design challenges you will face when designing and implementing a smart client application. It provides guidance on how to overcome these challenges, allowing you realize the benefits of a smart client application in as short a time as possible. The scope of the current release is focused on the architectural and design issues surrounding smart client applications built on the Microsoft .NET technologies using the Microsoft .NET Windows Forms.

MSDN site: http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dnpag/html/SCAG.asp
Community Workspace: http://workspaces.gotdotnet.com/pnpsc
Feedback: scagfb AT microsoft.com

Random stuff about this project...

  • Internally we call this project SCAG (Smart Client Architecture and design Guide).
  • Our team members for this project were spread in Redmond, Cananda and India
  • For past projects we used VSS as repository and source control; since we had team members spread across geo boundaries the respository & source control was an extranet sharepoint portal server
  • Project kicked off on March; At that time I was super busy wrapping up Perf & Scale project before I could join this one. Meanwhile, Blaine Wastell did an outstanding job managing the schedule, budget & communication
  • Experience writing two security guides (this and this) payed off when I wrote the security draft chapter for this guide, it took two days to write the first draft. Andy Dunn from our IT group shared his real world experiences.
  • I had to take a 3 week break, to take care of some personal stuff...Blaine & David continued to keep the project going
  • David was a key SME (Subject Matter Expert) for this project; Brenton (from David's team) helped with the deployment chapter
  • Paul Slater helped us with writing; Susan Filkins edited the content -- they both did an outstanding job
  • To celebrate release, we had lunch at Dixies.  Paul Slater & Mark Boulter bailed out at the last moment...at Dixies we got to taste “THE MAN”