Michael Hawker

Senior Software Engineer, Windows & Devices

Michael A. Hawker, a.k.a. XAML Llama, is a Senior Software Engineer for the Apps, Partners, and Store (APS) team at Microsoft. APS focuses on driving the ISV ecosystem through technical engagement with partners and industry as well as providing essential first party experiences. Michael is the maintainer of the Windows Community Toolkit and prior “App Ninja”. He is also the creator of XAML Studio, a Microsoft Garage project.

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Announcing Windows Community Toolkit v8.0

September 7th, 2023
Announcing Windows Community Toolkit v8.0 🎉🎉🎉 It's here! The Windows Community Toolkit is back with a huge update with an array of improvements and features. We're happy to announce that version 8.0 is available today! Made possible again with the support and contributions of our developer community. 🎉 If you're new to the ...

Windows Community Toolkit 8.0 Pre-release

August 23rd, 2023
The Windows Community Toolkit 8.0 Pre-release (image) We're thrilled to announce the first official pre-release packages for the Windows Community Toolkit 8.0 have been released to NuGet.org! 🎉🎉🎉 This blog is going to provide a brief overview of how to get started using these preview packages and how to provide feedback. This ...

The Windows Community Toolkit 2023 Update

April 20th, 2023
(image) It's been a pretty busy year for the Windows Community Toolkit (WCT), even though you may not realize it! We wanted to share what we've been working on, why it's important, where things are at, and how you can help! If you're new to the Toolkits, you can find an introduction video to them here. In 2022, we announced the Windows ...

Windows Community Toolkit Labs Experiments are Here!

November 9th, 2022
In this post, we talk about the new Windows Community Toolkit Labs and some initial experiments that we're looking for feedback on.

Announcing the Windows Community Toolkit Labs!

July 20th, 2022
In this post, we talk about the new Community Toolkit Labs for Windows as the future starting point for components in the Windows Community Toolkit.

Windows Community Toolkit 7.1 Preview Release!

August 5th, 2021
In this post, we talk about all the new features in our upcoming 7.1 release! Try out the preview today!

Welcome to the Community Toolkit!

July 27th, 2021
In this post, we discuss recent changes to our GitHub organization and our plans for the future!

Windows Community Toolkit for the Windows App SDK

April 1st, 2021
We've shipped the Windows Community Toolkit for Project Reunion 0.5! Find out how to get started now!

MVVM Toolkit Preview 3 & The Journey of an API

October 7th, 2020
In this post, we cover the journey of creating an easier to use API, how a .NET Native issue required a workaround, and how that ultimately proved to be a greater success!