XAML World Map

A friend of mine send me this world map in Adobe Illustrator format and I converted it to XAML using Microsoft Design and I have giving few finishing touches in Blend, the paths are there but I wanted to convert the paths into canvas and give country names so there is a little work to be done, but instead of just publishing the XAML I decided to make a sample application on Silverlight 1.1 alpha.

I'll post the source code of the world map application typically showing you how to use the world map, along with the XAML. There is some work to be done and I'll try to finish it as soon as possible.

So please stay tuned but here is a sneak preview of the world map for you. Hope you enjoy.

Expression Blend 2.0 December Preview disappointment

Today Microsoft released the December Preview for Expression Blend the basic tool for designing Silverlight XAML.

This came after Scott Guthrie's announcement that Silverlight 2.0 and that he will be starting a new Silverlight 2.0 features tutorial series in his blogs.

I was eagerly anticipating the release for December Preview, hoping that we might get a sneak preview of the Silverlight 2.0 features. Instead, I am very disappointed with the preview version. After reviewing the preview version the only feature updated from September Preview is personalising the Blend 2.0 with the features to Silverlight.

Blend 2.0 September Preview has many issues with Silverlight as you can expect from a preview version of undeveloped technology, basic issues like image brush was not included in September preview but could have coded in Visual Studio, December preview didn't even touch these basic issues.

I am disappointed with this release, but with Scott Guthrie's announcement about Silverlight 2.0. We might see another Preview version either January/February.