Chapter 1. Hello Indigo
Windows Communication Foundation (WCF), formerly code-named “Indigo,” is Microsoft’s platform for Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA), designed for building distributed service-oriented applications for the enterprise and the web. WCF was released with Windows Vista as part of the .NET Framework 3.0 (.NET 3.0) which includes four core technologies: Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF), Windows Workflow Foundation (WF), Windows Communication Foundation (WCF), and Windows CardSpace. As Figure 1-1 illustrates, .NET 3.0 relies on the .NET Framework 2.0 (.NET 2.0) and is supported on Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2003, and Windows Server 2008 platforms.

Figure 1-1. Platform support for WCF
Why release yet another technology for building distributed applications?? Unlike its predecessors, WCF is a truly service-oriented, loosely coupled, and interoperable platform. It simplifies service-oriented system design by removing the design dependencies that traditionally exist between how you access business functionality and the actual implementation of that business functionality. WCF promotes loose coupling not only between services and the functionality they expose, but also for choice of protocol, message encoding formats, and hosting environment. For example, services can be accessed over a variety of supported protocols, including named pipes, TCP, HTTP, ...
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