As reported in more than one place, Silverlight Beta 2 is due out by end of the week.

· UI Framework: Beta 2 includes improvements in animation support, error handling and reporting, automation and accessibility support, keyboard input support, and general performance.  This release also provides more compatibility between Silverlight and WPF.

· Rich Controls: Beta 2 includes a new templating model called Visual State Manager that allows for easier templating for controls. Other features include the introduction of TabControl, text wrapping and scrollbars for TextBox, and for DataGrid additions include Autosize, Reorder, Sort, performance increases and more.  Most controls are now in the runtime instead of packaged with the application.

· Networking Support: Beta 2 includes improved Cross Domain support and security enhancements, upload support for WebClient, and duplex communications (“push” from server to Silverlight client).

· Rich Base Class Library: Beta 2 includes improved threading abilities, LINQ-to-JSON, ADO.NET Data Services support, better support for SOAP, and various other improvements to make networking and data handling easier.

· Deep Zoom: Beta 2 introduces a new XML-based file format for Deep Zoom image tiles, as well as a new MultiScaleTileSource that enables existing tile databases to utilize Deep Zoom. Better, event driven notification for zoom/pan state is another improvement in Silverlight 2 Beta 2. 

On Thursday, June 26^th, from 1:30pm to 3:30pm, Microsoft MVP, Plurasight guru, and book author Matt Milner will be presenting on how to build connected systems using the .NET platform.

Matt brings a ton of real-world experience helping customers build connected systems on the Microsoft platform.  After Matt and I completed our podcast a while back, it seemed like a natural extension for Matt to dive deeper into his area of expertise and do a sessions open to developers and architects interested in connected systems.  Here is the abstract for the event:

Applications today are invariably connected across process and network boundaries.  Building connected systems comes with challenges from the classic: scalability, reliability, state management, and security; to new challenges of supporting the latest technologies such as ATOM, RSS, REST, JSON, and always being able to provide business value.  Developers need a platform that is robust enough to build systems today, and flexible enough to handle the challenges and changes to come.  In this seminar we will focus on two technologies in the .NET framework that provide the foundation for building connected systems: Windows Communication Foundation and Windows Workflow Foundation.  We will examine the design of each of these frameworks and discuss how you can use them to more easily build complex applications. 

Register Today!