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Hi Alan -
I'm deeply impressed as well. We're moving quickly ... and deliberately ... to get DevForce ready for this exciting new environment.
We plan to release a VS2010 pre-view in a couple of weeks (we've been working on it and are in the testing phase now).
Then we turn our full attention to both Entity Framework v.4 and Silverlight 4. I have high hopes for at least a CTP of both before year end.
As always, we will time our production release to match the official Microsoft release of these technologies. "Match" in this context means that our official release could be the same date but will likely be the week or two after the Microsoft RTM date (just to be sure there was no funny business).
Meanwhile, we will offer Betas as we determine that both the MS technologies and our offerings are strong enough and that our products do not have defects that we feel uncomfortable about.
We will offer CTPs as well. In my mind, a CTP is a "preview" ... a way to get acquainted with what is coming and a vehicle for soliciting your feedback. We make no guarantees in our CTPs; we don't commit to the APIs and we don't warrant that everything works as it should. You should not write any significant code against our CTPs (or against MS CTPs for that matter).
The VS2010 preview I mentioned earlier ... the one due shortly ... is such a CTP and it has known shortcomings that we call out in the release documents.
These distinctions should not surprise you. I'm just calling them out to be crystal clear.
Finally, we continue to maintain DevForce Classic and DevForce WinClient for 2008 and .NET 3.5. We fix defects. We keep our bits current with the latest releases of Developer Express and Infragistics WinForms controls. We backport selected features from our future products when that makes sense to us.
What "should" you do in the coming months?
- to build an application, start now with the current release of DevForce for VS2008 and .NET 3.5
- to explore DevForce to see how it might work for you, use the current release of DevForce for VS2008 and .NET 3.5
- to explore VS2010, try the CTP of DevForce for VS2010
- to explore .NET 4 / SL 4, check back with me in a week or two
Please note that you can use VS2010 to build applications that target .NET 3.5 and Silverlight 3. That's one of the cool features of VS2010. One benefit of this: you can use the visual designer (Cider) in VS2010 to develop your WPF and Silverlight 3 screens! You don't have to edit XAML or switch over to Blend.
We'll let you know with each new version of DevForce which DevForce/MSTech combinations are CTP, Beta, or Production.
These are exciting times for us and our industry. We are determined to bring you the new stuff quickly ... and safely.
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