Windows programmers: how do I create GUIs with Avalon and C++?

Factual Questions
1

In Java, I use Swing. In Windows XP, I can use C++ with MFC. How exactly do I interface C++ with Avalon? All the MSDN examples I can find are done with C# and .NET.

2

Visual C++ has rather become the bastard stepchild of the Visual Studio family with the advent of .NET.

I’ve heard rumors that Microsoft is going to devote more attention to C++ for the next version of Visual Studio (Whidbey).

For future GUI programming, you’ll probably end up using Managed C++ - the .NET-enabled version. Here’s a webcast that explains how to develop Longhorn (and probably Avalon) apps using Managed C++:

http://msevents.microsoft.com/cui/eventdetail.aspx?eventid=1032247923&culture=en-us