The Developer Express 2007 Roadmap

Ah Julian, I bet your mouse hovered over the 'submit' button for a long time before posting the 'infamous' roadmap.  Well done! Now go grab a scotch and settle your nerves.

Having a public roadmap is always a good choice ...

There is not many about WPF.
What components? When (Q?)?

>Other products slated for updates in 2007 include the ExpressLayout Control.

Awesome.

Thanks for the road map.  I am excited to see an asp.net scheduling component!  Way to go.

I have been spending quite some time learning WPF. It has a very powerful engine for rendering stuff right from XAML. You can use C# to do the same thing as XAML, but with XAML layout, it's much easier to build the hierarchical relationship of components than doing it C#.

XAML is a great tool for power users and designer, but when it comes to developers and developing full fledge app, I much rather to use C#, compile the code and then offer executable to end user. But unfortunately [at this point] the XAML has more preference than coding in C# and I don't know how the future will be. MS is really pushing the XAML bandwagon for WPF, WF and WCF.

All said and done, I have two major issues with WPF:
1) Whether you develop Std WinForm or XBAP or WPF/E, they all require state of the art hardware and .Net version (3.0).  The majority of people and companies are not going to spend lots of $ to upgrade hardware & software, just get fancy screens with animations. Heck, I still see many people use Win98 with P3.
2) Which to me is even worst. Since WPF uses DirectX, GDI32 and other low level components from the past [unmanaged], and now to make the Interface easier, MS has added many layers of Managed codes (running under CLR) on the top of those engines,  which causes the system to be VERY slow to respond. This part bothers me the most, because no matter what you do, those layers will affect the performance. I think this will bite you in the long run.

Looking ate UNIX and APPLE, you'll see the graphical engine is so much closer to the interface than Windows. Run the same app (say Photoshop) on Apple and Windows and see the difference, where as the current Photoshop is still running with unmanaged code. Imagine how much slower it will get when converted to managed code.

I've been very excited (and still am) about WPF, but the reality is beginning to sink in that it will be a while before WPF can be used in mainstream!

Just my two cents!

To Ben:
1) I don't know what you've been learning but WPF doesn't require state of the art hardware at all. Current hw is enough as long as graphic card supports directx 9.
2) I don't think that GDI layer, or better, WPF's GDI control affects WPF performance in any way, specially if you don't use it. Or did you talk about GDI suppot at OS level? Anyway, "which causes the system to be VERY slow to respond" - what?

"Photoshop is still running with unmanaged code. Imagine how much slower it will get when converted to managed code. " why?

When you say Q1 for 2007 do you mean end of March 07 ?
And if you buy now do you get DXperience 2007.Q1 upgrade for free ?

The reason I ask.. I'm looking at purchasing but can hold if the release is < 1mth away.

Regards
Andrew

Humm .... I didn't see anything about .Net Compact Framework ...
Too bad ! Guess I'll have to keep using standard compos :(

I agree a small set of controls for the compact framwork would be a very welcome addition.
I just need some better looking standard controls for CE