>Microsoft doesn't care about non-WIndows devices for XAML, so no.
>
>Linux on the desktop is dead. http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/207999/desktop_linux_the_dream_is_dead.html I saw a new article about it this week, but can't find the link.

Agree with most of the points, but the flip side is that Linux
through price pressure contiues to lower prices for MS products.
Vista has shown MS that customers are not jumping on new offerings
and subscription models are hard to establish

>iOS will have impact. Apple has locked up the tablet market. Number two in the market is prime for the picking. Michael Dell is very upbeat about Win8 tablets.

Are you bullish for Dell as a company ? And not much current success in the non x86 area there as well.

>Android has smart phones .. for now. All the patent litigation will be interesting. If Oracle wins their case against Google, all bets are off.

Did not think so - but was surprized by the size of the raised ante via Motorola ;-)

>Windows PCs are still selling like hotcakes, despite iPad. Corporate apps continue to run on Windows and will far into the future. Microsoft's future of betting on the same Windows UI everywhere is interesting. The WP7 Metro UI has won many design awards. It's clean, easy to use, fast, fluid. Scott Adams picks it over Android and iPhone http://dilbert.com/blog/entry/windows_phone_challenge_result/
>
>IMO, what will turn out to be the cross-platform language of choice will be HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript. Several companies are already using it to get around Apple's restrictive licensing. It's no longer about running on a device. With HTML 5, it really is all about the browser.

Given MS checkered history on following standards,
the question IMHO is will the (nowadays smaller, but still sizable) benefit of better dev tools
be felt only for MS targets or be browser-encompassing ?
SL dead-ending on non Win-OS is only the latest in this pattern.

So why assume they will change their demonstrated behaviour knack ?
C# is much better than java and might make up for the hightened back-end cost
for Azure servers instead of Linux - but the risk of willfully offering third rate expierience on
other browsers or some other lock-in strategies turns me away from MS nowadays.

my 0.0001€

thomas