Yesterday Microsoft released the first community technology preview of WPF/E and Scott Guthrie announced it on his blog. WPF/E provides a small client-side runtime that currently support Windows and Mac OSX. For browser support, WPF/E can run in both the FireFox and Safari web browsers providing support beyond the Internet Explorer browser.
Developers code applets for WPF/E using the XAML markup language to create media rich applications using WYSIWIG tools. Since WPF/E support video and audio codecs like WMV, WMA and MP3 developers can build applications providing streaming interactive content cross-platform.
Scott summarizes the motive for delivering WPF/E with these words:
WPF/E delivers a small client runtime that enables AJAX developers and designers to deliver richer, cross-platform, interactive web experiences. It will allow applications to go beyond what can be done with pure HTML today, and will enable sites to significantly improve the client user experience by blending HTML UI, Dynamic Vector Graphics, Animation and Media into a seamless cross-platform browser experience.
Community response has been generally positive with most lauding the Microsoft effort to make the technology available cross-platform. Steve Scott was a little underwhelmed with the Mac support in this blog post on 4 Chaps from Blighty.
John Raynor also points out a potential security oddity in this blog posting related to different default security settings in Internet Explorer.
So strangely enough, as far as XAML and WPF/E go, your local file system is a more restrictive location than the Internet.
View Channel 9’s 1000th video interview where Ernie Booth and Laurence Moroney hit up Lead Program Manager Joe Stegman about WPF/E and the Mac sitting on his desk.