Microsoft is beginning to flip the crank for your set of developer-focused announcements it is preparing to create at next week;s Mix ‘09 show.On March 12, Microsoft made available for download the April Community Technology Preview (CTP) release of its Live Framework software development kit (SDK) and Live Framework Tools for Visual Studio.The Live Framework CTP “includes everything you need in order to quickly build rich, connected, data-sharing applications using Live Services.” The CTP is designed specifically to allow developers to “Live-Mesh-enable” their applications and services.The April CTP adds support for
Windows 7 and Internet Explorer 8 (IE 8), among other new features, according to the Live Framework blog.Meanwhile, there;s speculation that Microsoft might offer further details at subsequent week;s Blend show on how Mesh and Silverlight apps will be able to go offline.At the Professional Developers Conference in October 2008, the Mesh team was talking up the idea that Web apps could “break free of the browser frame and go offline.” This is how Microsoft execs explained the concept to me at the PDC:“Developers are going to be able to wrap a Silverlight application with an ‘invisible; Internet Explorer wrapper and publish an application to Mesh. Through the Mesh synchronization model, developers can enable their applications to run locally on any Mesh-enabled system or device. When users reconnect and go online, these local Silverlight apps will automatically synchronize.”Mix ‘09, which kicks off on March 18,
Microsoft Office 2007 Enterprise, should be interesting. Interesting enough to create me forget my distaste for ############s and all things Vegas-related? No… But still worth the trek.