>http://www.microsoft.com/visualstudio/en-us/lightswitch
>
>Just downloaded the Beta 2 (released March 15th), and I have to say I'm pretty impressed. The included tools are pretty impressive. Still no built-in reporting capabilities though :(
>
>It creates SilverLight applications which can be run as a stand-alone app or used in the browser. Supports local DB or Azure. In theory can run on a Mac and/or Linux or whatever OS has a silverlight runtime/browser plugin.
>
>I have to say I think this thing is showing real promise. I always heard that Delphi was cool because it was both RAD and you could really get under the hood when you needed/wanted to... that's my impression of LightSwitch so far.
>
>Anyone else playing with it?

I have seen two presentations on LightSwitch. The first one, at a .NET user group meeting, left me completely cold. It was in early beta and was not stable, to say the least. Small arms fire. The presenter also mispresented it as an Access successor, something a power user could use productively. The more of the product he showed, with a VS like interface and developer internals, the less I believed.

The second presentation, on Saturday in Milwaukee, changed my thinking completely. Jay Schmetzer is a muck-a-muck in the VS group who I believe has responsibility for LightSwitch. What I came away with is that it is a product where you need a developer and a power user who knows the business rules working together. The dev can hook it up to SQL Server and so forth and then the power user can take it from there with some assistance. It has been designed from the ground up as a three tier framework. Cool stuff. It won't do everything under the sun but if you have a simple business app it should be considered.

An aside to those of you involved with user groups -- if you want to get the group energized, get Jay Schmetzer or Mats Kristensen to come speak. They are sensational.