WPF allows you to create rich applications which would previously take
months in a matter of hours. The abstraction layer for WPF consists of
possibilities not only for controls, but also for full 3D development,
which up till now has been seen as either too difficult, too time
consuming, or just useless.
WPF also allows applications to be created in markup (XAML). One of
the fatal problems of WinForms is the painful absence of a markup
language like there is for the web. There was no ability to create
GUIs using a powerful GUI and programmers were forced to either code
things like hand or pretend they were VB programmers with drag-n-drop.
In WPF, you can create a full appication in XAML just as you can now
create full ASP.NET 2.0 pages using the declarative ASP.NET 2.0 syntax
(i.e. ObjectDataSource + GridView + other declarative binding
controls). Simply try in some XAML and the magic happends.
WPF is also based on Direct3D. That is everything you do is 3D. Even
the 2D text and 2D images. You have the full power of any 3D modelling
studio at the tips of your fingers-- all without pointers and all
without insanely impossible 3D APIs.
WPF is to desktop presentation as ASP.NET was to the web. It finally
brings a powerfully productive desktop presentation foundation which
has been painfully absent until now.
You can see my blog for some demonstration videos on WPF and XAML.
David Betz
WinFX Harmonics Blog
http://www.davidbetz.net/winfx/