Scott Guthrie talks about the .NET 3.5 Client Product Roadmap:
Here's a quick review (emphasis added)
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Improved .NET Framework Setup for Client Applications
This summer we are going to ship a new setup framework for .NET that makes it easier to build optimized setup packages for client applications. This setup framework can be integrated with existing installation frameworks (for example: products like InstallShield), and enables a smaller and faster end-user setup experience of the .NET Framework.
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Improved Working Set and Startup Improvements for .NET Client Applications
This summer we are going to ship a servicing update to the CLR that makes some significant internal optimizations in how we optimize our data structures to cut down on disk IO and improve memory layout when loading and running applications. Among many other benefits, this work will significantly improve the working set and cold startup performance of .NET 2.0, 3.0 and 3.5 applications and will dramatically improve end-user experiences with .NET-based client applications.
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WPF Performance Improvements
This summer we are also planning to release a servicing update to WPF that includes a bunch of performance optimizations that improve its text, graphics, media and data stack. These include:
- Moving the DropShadow and Blur bitmap effects, which are currently software rendered, to be hardware accelerated (making them many times faster). The APIs for these effects will stay the same as they are today (which means you do not need to change any code nor recompile your apps to take advantage of these improvements).
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WPF Control Improvements
Later this year we are also planning to release a number of new controls for WPF. Included in the list we are working on are DataGrid, Ribbon, and Calendar/DatePicker controls.
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VS 2008 WPF Designer Improvements
We are also planning to release a servicing update of VS 2008 that includes a number of feature additions to its WPF designer. These include event tab support within the property grid computing for control events, toolbox support within source mode, and a variety of other common asks and improvements.
One of the first things in WPF that puzzled me was how much CPU any of the BitMap effects took. I assumed that since this sort of thing is built into many modern graphics cards, WPF would automagically send that work over to the GPU.
Quickly, I learned that this wasn't the case.
Thankfully, this (and a whole lot of other things) gets fixed this summer.