>I don't think .NET is dead at all. Creating a .NET based app, the output can be HTML. ASP.NET controls do this. LightSwitch lets you build a Silverlight based app without knowing or using any Silverlight coding, and could be updated to generate HTML5/JS/CSS3 based apps without doing any web coding. Servoy lets you build rich client forms, then each form renders as HTML/JS/CSS via AJAX without any web development knowledge (and will support HTML5 fully). So there is nothing preventing the use of WPF, Silverlight, and LightSwitch like development in .NET that generates HTML5 based forms/apps. In Servoy, your own JavaScript code runs on the server. This makes it more like SasS (software as a service), and makes it far easier to deploy as a cloud based app (no app changes needed).
I for one hope that Microsoft DOESN'T go down this code generation path. This is massively leaky abstraction and will cause nothing but trouble down the road and likely will result in another shift in a few years away from code gen to more a more direct method of doing development with the underlying tech (ie. HTML/CSS/JavaScript). We're seeing that now on the MS Web stack - I doubt we want to repeat the experience of Web Forms -> MVC down the line again.
What I would love to see is something akin to what FireFox does with plug-ins. They run HTML/CSS/JavaScript stack with APIs that are accessible from JavaScript. This means front end scripting, but you can plug-in components and anything else that is fully native code including access to raw APIs. So front end code is scripted but the objects/business layer/system APIs and anything else can continue to run in native code. It's just the UI that's scripted...
Along the same lines I think Microsoft really needs a good JavaScript .NET implementation. JScript.NET is pretty crappy and way dated. A totally revamped server JavaScript implementation to bring some synergy between UI and backend code.
I think the time is right for this to happen. I feel that UI development has run into a dead end with the WPF hitting the high end that few people really want to work with because of complexity and pretty disorganized APIs and its wanna-be HTML like syntax. If MS had gotten XAML closer to HTML they might not be in this position right now. The issue is simply that there's less and less desktop development being done - most of it now goes on the Web and the more people can leverage the Web skills to also build the occasional desktop application all the better.
We shall see - nothing is ever a straight path for Microsoft though, so I doubt there will be a simple path like this...
Totally agree with you though: Microsoft once again royally shot itself in the foot making a half-assed announcement without any real backup about how things will work for developers. More FUD as usual. It's really tiresome to see this happen... it serves no purpose except confuse those people that are already bought into the MS stack. It does nothing to encourage people from the outside which presumably are the biggest target of this effort.
+++ Rick ---
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>I think Microsoft is doing a disservice to developers by showing off Windows 8 and hinting to their new roadmap without being more clear about their plans for HTML5, Silverlight, etc. I think they should have planned to show the new Win8 UI at the same time they disclose plans for developers. Now they will spend the next several months with many pissed off and confused .NET developers.
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http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/06/06/windows_tablets_without_silverlight_dot_net/>>
>>Let the rumours begin...
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>>How feverish are things going to get before "September"?
