Talk about missed chances. I vividly remember some time back, when Microsoft first unveiled XNA, that I thought to myself "I bet that involves putting the .NET common language runtime on gaming boxes". I wish that I'd bet a big chunk of cash on that theory, because that is just what has happened. This is wonderful. It means that in the longer term we can stop writing C++ (the language of the devil) and start writing C# (the language of angels). The implications of just this part of the announcements are big enough for me, although the other bits surrounding the tools are also nice. After all this time telling pepole that managed code is the way forward it is great to see it being carried forward onto the next leve.