SWF, SVG and Avalon

Longhorn, although still due in 2005, is already causing discussion around it's new vector graphics rendering format, code named Avalon. From the information available, I understand that Avalon is supposed to be the standard for UI rendering in Longhorn, based on a special flavor of XML, or rather custom namespaces. Bill just had to have it...

Describing UI elements and their interactions through XML is not new. Projects like XML2SWF, X-Wave and Spark, to name a few, have been trying to implement the concept in the SWF format, not to mention Royale, Macromedia's own implementation about to enter its beta stage. On the other hand, there's something similar being implemented by the W3C for the SVG format, namely RCC, which stands for Rendering Custom Content. DENG is also on the same path.

It is still too early to be sure if this is something we should worry about. As Darron Schall points out, too much can happen in the following two years. Personally, I am looking forward to Royale.