Closing in on Beta 2

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The Windows SDK team is closing in on Beta 2. We have about two weeks left in our dev cycle, after which test does their full pass while we PMs start thinking about RC0 coming early next year. For me, as a PM who joined this team just as we were locking down on Beta 2 plans, it's nice to be in at the beginning of our next cycle. After four months with this team, I finally feel like I have a deep enough knowledge of our processes to help drive where we want to go in the future.

Things we already have in place for Beta 2:

  • The WinFX and Platform SDKs have been combined into one SDK, the Windows SDK
  • We are moving to DVD install rather than CD - the SDK is too big to fit on one CD now
  • CD layouts will include copies of the WinFX runtime and the .NET Framework 2.0
  • Beefed up SetEnv.cmd and .msh
  • Plenty of new and revised API information
  • Some new samples - we hope for many but they tend to arrive late in the cycle
  • Lots more

Projects we're working on:

  • Improved search in the SDK: we feel your pain on this one and really want to fix it. Probably for RC0.
  • New and better delivery of docs on MSDN: our friends on MSDN are working on a new system for building docs online and we're looking forward to using it. Probably early next year.
  • A new and more flexible doc viewer. Hopefully for RTM.
  • Lots more - still to be defined

Do you have any pet projects or issues you'd like us to deliver for you?