Great news.
Following Windows Vista RC1, we are now also releasing the .NET Framework 3.0 RC1 bits.
To get the bits, go to this link.
.NET Framework 3.0 includes foundations used by Windows Vista developers, although it can be applied for Windows XP and Windows 2003 servers too. Let's examine the main new foundations added:
.NET 3.0 includes WPF (Windows Presentation Foundation) which allows you to build applications that look like advanced games. If in the past, we bought the new graphic cards just if we use games, now those cards can be used for the next generation of applications developed with WPF. It introduces a managed API to DirectX and will present XAML, a new declarative markup languages that will bridge between designers and developers.
.NET 3.0 also introduces WCF (Windows Communications Foundation) which is the merge of all MS communication technologies of Remoting, Web Services, WSE, Enterprise Services (.NET generation of COM+) and System.Messaging (.NET generation of MSMQ). Although, I can't show you cool 3D graphics with this, as opposed to WPF, you can rest assure that this is one of the most important innovations Microsoft is releasing in this decade. This will allow a much easier foundation for all future SOA based systems. You just have to look at .NET code that uses it to grab our head and understand that we've all worked too hard in the past around those issues.
The last piece is called WF (Workflow Foundation). We changed its name from WWF (Windows Workflow Foundation), probably because of the connotation of the World Wide Wrestling, just kidding.... Actually, this foundation allows building workflow inside applications (as opposed to BizTalk that allows workflow between application). It includes modeling framework for state diagrams, sequence diagrams and rule based diagrams.
I expect that these new foundations will present the next generation of software systems and I'm really anxious to see the systems that will include them. If you feel that it affected the architecture of your applications or if you've come up with new patterns or best practices that use these technologies, feel free to comment here or send me your insights.