Technologies to focus on

When people find out I work for Microsoft they often ask “so what technologies should I be aware of that are coming down the line?”. Of course I’m a developer-focused person so my answer is always relevant to developers. And actually it’s a really valid question right now because 2007 is a big year for us in terms of developers.

We have two big US events this year, neither of which is guaranteed to happen every year but both of which are run when we have something particularly relevant to say:

1) Mix07

2) The PDC (professional developers conference)

We will be running UK events that mirror both of these, with a mix “style” event – like mix only better :-) – likely to happen in June. Earmark June 20/21 for now.

Both of these events will feature some big announcements so it’s worth knowing about them even if you can’t attend.

So what about those technologies? None of these is likely to come as a big surprise but here’s what we’ll be focusing on in the coming months:

· Windows Live. There will be quite a bit of movement here, see http://dev.live.com

· WPF/E. If you haven’t come across this yet take a look at the wpf/e development centre. Be aware of two thing: that WPF/E is just a code name so there's a proper product name on the way, and that what you see today is only a piece of what this technology will become

· .NET Framework 3.5

· Visual Studio Orcas

· Expression product range

· Longhorn Server

· SQL Server “Katmai”

I’ll post additional entries relating to these technologies, and especially highlighting where we’re running relevant activities in the UK.