Creating SDKs: Getting them out the door

If you ask anyone who does release management for software, the final phase of a release always is the most complicated and frustrating phase. No matter how much you plan or prepare, something almost alwys will pop up at the last minute that causes a crisis. Such was the case with the WinFX SDK. Two bugs were found on Friday that necessitated our rebuilding the SDK. Neither were of the variety that would crash a user's computer, but they were important enough that we had no choice but to fix them. This then had a ripple effect, which forced several of us on the team to scramble to meet our inflexible deadlines. I'm happy to say that we're meeting out deadlines and that we're putting out a really good product for our users. But the road to release is often so rocky.

If you're interested in learning more about our exciting new OS, Windows Vista, a good first place to go is MSDN's Windows Vista Developer Center. A whole slew of people worked to produce a site that's a nice one-stop portal to Vista information. Our Windows SDK will also be published online in the next month or so, to provide a deeper level of information for our developers. Sorry if this sounds like marketing hype, but I really think the site looks great and I've already found it useful.

Finally. now it's time for a ship party. It represents a quick breath of fresh air before we release the Windows SDK I mentioned above, and an additional PDC-based version of WinFX. Sigh. The fun never ends.