Second Edition
Wow, I can't believe that after all that time in the chute, .NET 3.0 and Windows Vista have finally shipped.
I vividly remember scrambling backstage at PDC 2003 with Chris trying to ready the first live demonstration of .NET 3.0 (then called WinFX) for the keynote speaker, Jim Allchin. It was an especially stressful keynote because Los Angeles was plagued with brush fires at the time and Chris Anderson's flight had been canceled; fortunately Chris Sells had already arrived and was ready to pinch-hit both in preparation and presentation if Chris, in fact, couldn't make it to L.A. in time. At the time, Chris' job at Microsoft was to make sure that Vista—including WPF—was a smashing success. Little did he know it would take almost four years until the product actually shipped (which of course is a prerequisite for success).
So, what's the big deal with WPF?
Like its sister .NET 3.0 technology, Windows Workflow Foundation (WF), WPF embraces the "it takes a village" approach to software development and uses XAML to allow people with different skill sets to collaborate in the development process. In the case of WF, XAML lets high-level process and rule descriptions integrate with imperative code written in C# or Visual Basic. In the case of WPF, XAML is the bridge between us code monkeys and the beret-wearing, black-turtleneck set who design visuals that look like they weren't designed by, well, us code monkeys.
WPF really is an impressive piece of technology: documents, forms, ...