Welcome to the Windows Communication Foundation!

Windows Communication Foundation (previously codenamed "Indigo") is Microsoft's unified framework for building distributed applications.

With WCF, you can build secure, reliable, transacted Web services applications that interoperate with apps built on other platforms and integrate with the applications you're building on today's .NET technologies. And WCF is designed to be the next logical version of today's .NET distributed technologies, so if you’re using ASMX, COM+, MSMQ, .NET Remoting, or WSE, you'll love WCF.

WCF is part of WinFX, Microsoft's next-generation Windows framework. WinFX is an extension of the .NET Framework 2.0, and will be available as part of the Windows Vista operating system, as well as for Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP.

Latest News & Articles

From .NET Remoting to the Windows Communication Foundation (WCF)

Monday 4/24/2006

This article discusses potential scenarios for the integration and migration of your existing .NET Remoting based applications to the Windows Communication Foundation (WCF, formerly codenamed Indigo) to take advantage of the new infrastructure for the creation of service oriented applications. You will learn about the necessary key changes and the design decisions that you should take into account.

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WCF Documentation CTP Posted

Monday 4/17/2006

The Windows Communication Foundation Documentation Team is starting to release biweekly updates for the product documentation! The most recent WCF Documentation CTP is available on the "Resources" page under "Documentation Updates".

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Samples, Samples, Samples by Juval Lowy

Tuesday 4/11/2006

Juval Lowy of IDesign, Inc. submitted a batch of 20 (!) samples to the site today. Thank you, Juval.

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Get Started!

» Download the most recent Windows Communication Foundation CTP Release
The Windows Communication Foundation "Community Technology Preview" releases provide an early and up to date look at where WCF is heading on its way to release.
» Download the Windows Communication Foundation Go-Live Release (Jan CTP)
The Windows Communication Foundation Go-Live release enables you to use WCF in your production environment and even release products on it before the final release of WCF. This Installation Guide explains how to install everything you need to start building WCF services today.
» Review Resources
Check out these resources for building services, like a guide to building a simple Hello World service, or a comprehensive white paper that takes you on a lap around WCF.
» Review the Samples
Take a look at some WCF samples, and share your own samples with the WCF community.
» Try It!
Walk through the labs hosted on MSDN to explore what WCF can do, and build your own client for a service we're hosting right here.
» Join the Forums
Participate in the WCF community by asking and answering questions in the WCF forum.
» Got a Question?
Find answers to the most frequently asked WCF questions in the FAQ.