I had the opportunity to attend PDC last week and it was a real busyweek. This was my first PDC and all said there was few news compared tothe last. Well it might be true but it was clear that the road onwardfor Microsoft as a developer platform is set. The presentationfoundation and XAML will support complete de-coupling the work ofdeveloper and UI designer and a lot of the time this is probably a goodthing. Workflow foundation will enable easier handling of enterprisedevelopment. This is probably a good thing as well but there are a few urgentissues to this.It all drills down to a simple principle: The user interaction will still be dictated by programmers!If the workflow is dictated by the programmer it will still reflect theinner works of the data in the system and not the user needs and goals.This is a deadly sin in interaction design. And the workflow foundationwill not force interaction design into the system. The users will findthat they still work against the system or together with the system inbest case. It will not reach the status where the workflow supports the user.The same is true for the user interface. It will still be theprogrammer who dictates what information is available to user, and whatthe user can do with the information. Sure, the way the information ispresented will differ and there will be full artistic freedom indesigning the user interface. However, the separation will not let thedeveloper ignore users. The need for interaction architects is as highas ever. I expect to see some great UIs coming out and a whole lot ofreally crappy ones too.The tools are greater than never before, but the need for interaction architects is as vital as ever.