Overview of .NET Framework 3.0 (WinFx)

The goal in application development is always the same: create the best possible software in the least amount of time. Yet the bar is continually raised, as the platforms on which developers build get better and better. In Windows, for example, the original Win32 interface has been subsumed by the much more functional .NET Framework. Both version 1.0 of the Framework, released in 2002, and version 2.0, released in 2005, provide a significantly better and more productive environment for people who design and write Windows software.
The .NET Framework 3.0 (formerly known as WinFX) is the next step in this progression. Applications built on this new version of the Framework can be created with Visual Studio 2005, making it feel familiar to most Windows developers. But the .NET Framework 3.0 is also an evolution, adding more to what version 2.0 of the Framework already provides. Scheduled to be released in late 2006, the .NET Framework 3.0 will be available for Windows Vista, Windows Server 2003, and Windows XP.
This paper provides a big-picture view of the .NET Framework 3.0 and its components. The goal is to make clear what this new release is, examine how its technologies can be used, and provide brief explanations of those technologies.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/netframework/default.aspx?pull=/library/en-us/dndotnet/html/intronetfx30.asp