Wow. Never new this existed until today. The Windows API Code Pack provides a source code library that can be used to access some features of Windows 7 and Windows Vista from managed code. These Windows features are not available to developers today in the .NET Framework.

Here is a listing of the features included in the API code Pack:

• Windows 7 Taskbar
  • Jump Lists, Icon Overlay, Progress Bar, Tabbed Thumbnails, and Thumbnail Toolbars
• Windows Shell
  • Windows 7 Libraries
  • Windows Shell Search API support
  • Explorer Browser Control
  • A hierarchy of Shell Namespace entities
  • Windows Shell property system
  • Drag and Drop for Shell Objects
  • Windows Vista and WIdnows 7 Common File Dialogs, including custom controls
  • Know Folders and non-file system containers
• DirectX
  • Direct3D 11.0, Direct3D 10.1/10.0, DXGI 1.0/1.1, Direct2D 1.0, DirectWrite, WIndows Imaging Component (WIC) APIs
• Windows Vista and Widnows 7 Task Dialogs
• Sensor Platform APIs
• Extended Lingquistic Services APIs
• Power Management APIs
• Application Restart and RecoveryAPIs
• Command Link control and System definded shell icons

The setup and install is a bit different.  The API comes as one large solution that needs to be compiled and then the .dll's pulled from the projects bin folder for use.

http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/WindowsAPICodePack