I don’t write a lot of desktop applications, but I do write enough to dislike having both VS and Blend open at the same time. Then I read this post from Gabriel Schenker.

The new XAML editor in VS 2011

If you have worked with WPF or Silverlight in Visual Studio 2010 or 2008 you know that the XAML editor was extremely slow and limited in its functionality. Now that has changed dramatically in VS 2011. First of all the new XAML editor is backed by the same engine (or at least part of it) as Expression Blend. The editor now runs in its own process to not compromise the stability and availability of VS. The editing capabilities have tremendously improved and members of the VS team confirmed me that they are tuning the editor as much as possible and make it performing well also in very large project with many assets.

It seems MS is getting smarter about its product lines, and using the good stuff from other applications. This can only be a good thing.