I am a bit confused about this whole XAML thing. At first, I only heard about XAML from Microsoft, so I thought it was really something that "belonged" to Avalon (and Longhorn, at first, before WinFX). But then I bumped into some information about MyXaml and other related implementations of XAML.

Just what is XAML anyway? Can anyone direct me towards some decent information that I could read through to get a better understanding of it all?

Will Microsoft provide a visual XAML designer, like we currently have for Windows and Web Forms?

Thanks!