>>Isn't Microsoft in the business to make money?
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>Of course. That's why they sell us tools that are 'almost' good enough, and then offer additional stuff to fill the gaps at additional cost. If VS2008/2010 is supposed to be a tool for building apps including WPF, then it ought to do the job properly.
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>I don't insist that VS makes coffee, but if MS sells it claiming it's a tool for doing that, then it ought to do it without my having to buy another MS program or subscription to get it done right.

Probably I'm pre-empting Craig here but, AFAIK, MS have always accepted that the VS2008 IDE designer was a first stab/unfinished implementation and open to improvement - which doesn't make it unusable. The VS2010 version is supposed to fill in some of the gaps (although I must admit I haven't tried it). At least in VS2008 we have a usable WPF platform which, TBH, I don't have a problem with.
Best,
Viv
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>>It comes with some MSDN subscriptions.
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>>>And costs another $600.00 US. Great.