It's not every decade that the Windows presentation subsystem gets a complete overhaul. As a matter of fact, it's never happened before. Avalon will retire the hodge-podge of DLLs that began with 16-bit Windows, and were carried forward (with accretion) to XP and Server 2003. It will replace this whole edifice with a new one that aims to unify three formerly distinct modes: the document, the user interface, and audio-visual media. This is a great idea, and it's a big deal. If you're a developer writing a Windows application that needs to deliver maximum consumer appeal three or four years from now, this is a wave you won't want to miss. But if you're an enterprise that will have to buy or build such applications, deploy them, and manage them, you'll want to know things like:
How much fragmentation can my developers and users tolerate within the Windows platform, never mind across platforms?
Will I be able to remote the Avalon GUI using Terminal Services and Citrix?
Is there any way to invest in Avalon without stealing resources from the Web and mobile stuff that I still have to support?
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