Alright, I love giving this talk. I've always liked graphics programming, wrote my first animation piece on an Apple II. Avalon, now with BORING and DRAB name Windows Presentation Framework (WPF), is very cool. The places where Avalon touches your UI is everywhere.
Abstract
The next version of Windows (Windows Vista) will include a completely new graphics engine. This engine, Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF), will change the way you think about user interfaces. WPF (formerly called Avalon), soon to be retro-fitted onto Windows XP and Windows 2003, is a major shift in Windows graphics platform. Built, in part, on a new vector API, WPF blends traditional two-dimensional and three-dimensional systems, transparencies, animation, integrated multi-media and more in a single unified managed code model. Join me to see how WPF is controlled through XAML (Extensible Application Markup Language) or via code. See how incredibly easy it is to create three-dimensional applications (including controlling lights, camera and sprites). Examine the significant advances in color, printing, remoting, and audio processing that are included. Immense changes are coming. Be among the first to see what the WPF engine can do.
What it's about.
Graphics. Plain, complex, 3D and 2D. Every kind of graphic programming you can think of.