.NET Rocks!

After years of waning, .NET is on the rise - is it time for a renaissance? Ian Cooper says yes! The first of the NDC Oslo shows for 2017 starts out focused on a blog post that Ian published in February 2017 calling for a .NET Renaissance, and what it takes for it to come true. The move to open source has helped a lot, as it opens the door to what people really look for in a thriving community - rather than being a product created by Microsoft, it is a set of tools supporting by Microsoft but with direct community involvement. There's a lot going right, it's time for a renaissance!

Ready to get fluent? While at the Build conference in Seattle, Carl and Richard talked to James Clarke about the Fluent Design System. Fluent represents the next generation of Windows UI elements, as part of the continuous updating process that Windows 10 is under going these days. James talks about how you can start to experiment with the latest Fluent bits and provide feedback directly to the team as the features evolve. Microsoft is implementing Fluent against Windows and the Microsoft Store, and you can be part of those experiments too - check it out!

What's up with .NET Standard and the new XAML Standard? While at Build in Seattle, Carl and Richard chatted with Mike Harsh and Joe Stegman about the importance of the new standards and how they will affect .NET development going forward. As Mike and Joe explain, the focus is on making sure that the different versions of .NET (and XAML) that are out there today converge on a common standard. This will make it easier for tool vendors to build tools that work everywhere, and for developers to be able to write code that runs across platforms. It's going to take some time, but standards should make our lives better!

Is Silverlight back? Carl and Richard talk to Steve Sanderson about a demo he did at NDC Oslo that blew some minds. The demo involved using WebAssembly to put a version of the .NET Runtime and C# into the browser. Yes, that's right, Steve found a way to write C# that runs in the browser with NO PLUGIN. It's only an experiment, and there's no XAML to be found, so it's not really Silverlight, but it certainly gets you thinking - what if you could run any language you wanted in the browser? What would your world be like then?

We all have multiple devices, how do we make them all work together well? While at Build in Seattle, Carl and Richard sat down with Vikas Bhatia and Shawn Henry to talk about Project Rome. As Vikas explains, Project Rome is all about cross-device experiences utilizing APIs available on multiple platforms and interacting with Microsoft Graph. The goal is to have work and information follow you between devices - with the user always in control. Check it out!

More analysis from Build - during Build! While at Build in Seattle, Carl and Richard talked to Holger Mueller about his impressions of the show, shortly after the first keynote. Holger runs the gamut, talking about .NET Core, Visual Studio 2017, Azure, DevOps, Containers and more. A lot happened at Build, here's a view from the early point in the event itself!

What does the military want with a space plane? Time for a Geek Out! The conversation begins with that question - what space plane? Richard digs into the history of the space shuttle, which did have substantial funding from the US Air Force for specific military missions, none of which ever happened for a variety of reasons. And then off into the various projects to try and build a military space plane, including the DC-X, X-33, X-37B, DARPA RASCAL and the latest attempt, the DARPA XS-1. Each project brought some capabilities to the fore, but there's still a long way to go!

Want to manage your Azure apps on your smartphone? Carl and Richard talk to Jakub Jedryszek and Michael Flanakin about their work building the Azure Mobile App. Not just a mobile version of the Azure Portal, the app is built with Xamarin Native for iOS and Android, and focuses on using the phone efficiently to let you do what you need to! The discussion dives into the challenges of working on varying form factors and the tools that make things easier. And of course, there are great instrumentation and feedback mechanisms. It's early days for this application yet, so check it out and let them know what you need!

Are you ready to take your UX design to the next level? Carl and Richard talk to Mark Miller about his latest research into the science of great design - and it's definitely a science! Mark walks through some core concepts related to user interface design and the design of the application as a whole, helping users stay focused on what they need to do without interrupting or confusing them along the way. The discussion also embraces a lot of design decisions in the non-digital world as well - how you walk and drive a car are impacted by the design of a number of things!

What happened at Build? Lots! Carl and Richard talk to Rocky Lhotka about his impressions around the various announcements at Build. The conversation ranges over how this Build was somewhat different from others - perhaps more aspirational? Topics covered included the amazing AI/vision system demos that were exciting and frightening at the same time, as well as the XAML and .NET Standards, Hololens, VR, Project Rome and more! So much happened at Build!