- Exploring the Windows Communication Foundation (WCF)
- Windows Communication Foundation: The Official Definition
- Building Solutions Using the Windows Communication Foundation
- Running Windows Communication Foundation Solutions
- Next Steps
Running Windows Communication Foundation Solutions
Windows Vista is the first major upgrade of the Windows OS in five years. This is a big deal. The Windows Communication Foundation will be part of the solution shipping with Vista. Communication is a key to the success of Vista as an operating system. It can be seen clearly with the integration of RSS into Internet Explorer and connectivity of the Windows Live services.
The splash of reality for Microsoft is that not everyone will go out and get Vista on day 1. There has been much press on whether Vista is ready to ship. In a manner that almost appears as if Microsoft is hedging its bets, the Windows Communication Foundation has been included as part of the .NET 3.0 Framework and will be delivered to Windows XP SP2 clients and Windows 2003/R2 servers. It’s still unclear whether the WCF will also be ported to mobile devices and PDAs.
Microsoft’s move to support .NET 3.0 Framework architecture outside of Vista is significant. It’s much easier to convince a client to upgrade to .NET 3.0 Framework, rather than tell them that they need to upgrade their operating system.