A lot is changing in .NET this year, but it all feels like progress. Now that Vista is released, we get to stop using Community Technical Previews (mostly) of things like WPF, WF, and WCF. The ASP.NET group has been busy bringing us AJAX tools that take a wild technology and pretty much turn it into point and click. I recall doing presentations shortly after Google Maps came out when the world was just discovering what AJAX meant and still wondering how it could be leveraged. In the demonstration on custom control development, I walked through the steps needed to build a control that updated behind the scenes with AJAX. It wasn't much code, but it wasn't point and click and it dragged developers into places they often didn't want to play (can you say JavaScript?). Those days are gone now. With the release of the AJAX toolkit and the other releases formerly known by the code name Atlas, developers starting out a few years from now will likely not even understand how it all works, but will just use it. I think this release is just the beginning as people like Scott Guthrie at Microsoft are still pushing to make lives better for developers. They are doing a great job in this regard. If only Vista supported Visual Studio...

As for the other technologies, the big issue will be how easy is it to use? I find the usability of the latest AJAX Toolkit to be great. You can get useful functionality pretty much instantly with very little indoctrination, but WCF and WF have a steeper climb to come up with that killer sample app. The RSS Toolkit for WCF had promise, but that is a discussion for another issue. Let's just say I am still waiting for that wizard or sample app that brings it to the masses.

We here at the .NET Developer's Journal are working on a bit of a makeover ourselves this year. As this year progresses you can look forward to articles more closely targeted to the selected subject of each issue and content from a wider variety of fresh writers. You will still get your regular doses of our regulars like Dennis Hayes and Carl Franklin, but we are looking to make .NET Developer's Journal more central to your pursuit of maintaining the cutting edge. In the coming months I will use this space to reveal a plan to collaborate with ASPAlliance.com to not only improve our print publication, but to also fill the pages of the online magazine with great content that helps you be the super hero developer in all situations.

Stay tuned, it should be an interesting year for all of us!