Custom WPF keyboard on UMPC and four on the floor

You know, being a Microsoft evangelist isn't all just sitting around in cafes and playing with the latest technology. Sometimes we have to go to car launches too.

On Tuesday Dave Glover and I wandered down to the Melbourne Motor Show, where Audi is using a Samsung Q1 UMPC (Ultra Mobile PC) to capture the details of visitors to their stand. A custom keyboard was developed in Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) and designed using Expression Blend to allow stand attendants to enter information in a natural way (with a QWERTY keyboard), but with custom functions (like a key for ".com.au") and Audi branding. Tegatech (the tablet guys), Dr Neil Roodyn and UK interaction design firm Tricky Business collaborated on the project. This is a great example of how XAML provides the glue to allow developers and designers to work together - exactly why Microsoft came up with it in the first place. Apparently the teams in Australia and UK also colloborated using OneNote.

WPF, XAML, Expression Blend, customised user experiences, differentiated branding, platform-specific UI's, and designer-developer collaboration. Well, I guess my work here is done... (Not that I did anything.)

Oh, nice car, too.

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