XAML, Expression Blend and the Future of Multi-Touch Technology

Tim Huckaby is the founder of InterKnowledge and he works on WPF, Silverlight, and the whole XAML-based stack.  Now that devices like Microsoft Surface and the new Windows Phone 7 are all based on the XAML stack, Huckaby says that we're finally fulfilling the promise of "write it once, run it everywhere."  In this interview Huckaby discusses his work on the bleeding edge with the XAML stack and demos some Microsoft Surface applications.

The increasing hardware implementation of multitouch capabilities is driving the evolution of what Huckaby calls "the natural user interface (NUI)."  Huckaby predicts that in a few years, touching the screen will be as prevalent as reaching for your mouse.  Expression Blend makes developing in XAML trivially simple for developers to build elegant interfaces without any formal design training.  There are huge books on XAML, Huckaby says, but the amount of hand coding is reduced dramatically when using Blend.  About half of the people at Huckaby's talks haven't started using XAML yet, but he expects they will be very soon.