Microsoft recently celebrated Vista's release to manufacturing and the start of a huge wave of Vista-linked product launches by releasing a blizzard of developer software, including the .Net 3.0 Framework, the new managed-code programming model at Vista's heart.Now available for download on Microsoft's Web site, the .Net 3.0 Framework will ship as part of the Vista operating system but can also be deployed on Windows XP. The bundle brings to light a number of years-in-development technologies, including the Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF), Communication Foundation (previously code-named Indigo), Workflow Foundation and CardSpace (formerly InfoCard), a new run at the identity-authentication problem that Passport failed to solve. more....