We expected a new major version of the Inform programming language, and what we got is a whole new way of developing text-based interactive fiction. Graham has thought carefully about the difficulties non-technical artists have trying to manipulate computational logic, and addressed them head-on with a clear, natural-language interface that's part computer programming language, part interactive development environment. Inform fans have long conjectured what a semi-graphical Inform IDE would look like; I had even made tentative plans to try for an Eclipse plugin for Inform 7, expecting it to be just another programming language.
There are lots of new ideas here, so there's plenty of room for refinement. But given that this was developed for a small audience, for an obscure art form, for free, it's quite an accomplishment.
