Welcome to the second edition of the Beta Experience newsletter!

It is April now and the next CTP (Community Tech Preview) of Windows Vista still a few weeks out. If you do not have access to the latest CTP (February CTP, Build 5308) you can still download WinFX and the Windows SDK and start developing WinFX applications on Windows XP.

Nevertheless we want to give you an idea what's coming up in terms of user interface changes and improvements. Have a look at the videos demonstrating present versions of Windows Vista below.

But User eXperience is not only about new features. As developers, we need to step back and rethink what is useable and user friendly, instead of just adding flashy effects. The Windows shell team has done a lot of background work and I want to present you an example how we are reworking dialogs in Windows Vista.

While it is likely your current developer workstations will work just fine with Windows Vista, several people asked for hardware recommendations. So if you need to purchase new hardware before Windows Vista ships, it might be helpful to keep an eye at the proposed requirements for the Windows Vista Hardware Logo.

Alexander Holy
Chief Editor for Windows Vista content
Developer & Platforms Group
Microsoft EMEA Beta Experience Team

windowsconnected.com