I decided to list what I thought were the most significant things that happened in 2005 for .NET. This is more of an mental exercise for me as I gave myself only 5 minutes to come up with this list and have not looked at anybody else's lists in order not to be swayed.
- Release of VS2005/SQL Server 2005 (well, of course!!)
- Shift from pet-names (Indigo/Avalon/Longhorn) to official names (WCF/WPF/Vista)
- Redefinition of Visual Studio SKUs
- Comprehensible message of what is Indigo/WCF in relation to existing distributed technologies
- The new MSDN
- Virtual Earth
- Women added to the ranks of Developer Evangelist (for the developer/user group community) and MSDN Developer Community Champion.
- Bill & Melinda Gates named Time People of the Year
- Numerous significant hirings by Microsoft from the developer community.
- Repackaging of Hailstorm
Technically speaking, the item that most caught me by surprise was LINQ.