>>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.
>

Back in March I attended an all day event in Milwaukee. It was sponsored by the Milwaukee .NET user group and included presentations by some pretty senior guys at MS. One of them was Mads Kristensen, a Program Manager on the Web Platforms and Tools team, which serves the developer tools and browser groups but is not part of either of them. In his role he has key involvement in HTML5. The way he put it was that he is responsible for insuring that Microsoft is involved in the HTML5 standard and adheres to it, even if specific products are not yet 100% compliant. I took that to be directed at IE. For sure I came away with the impression that HTML5 is something I should be paying attention to.

Another speaker that day was Jay Schmelzer, who is the Group Program Manager of the VS team. LightSwitch falls within his realm and he gave the keynote speech when it was officially launched a couple of weeks ago. He doesn't come on too strong -- that's good -- but is clearly technically savvy and one of the smoothest speakers I have ever seen. Very fast on his feet. This event was well worth a day of my time, especially considering the price ;-) (free attendance and free lunch -- it sold out quickly so I was fortunate to hear about it early)

I mention only in passing that another of the speakers that day was our old friend John Petersen, the VFP MVP and curmudgeon. He is quite a charming guy in person as well as in his presentations, not a wild man at all. He moved on from VFP a long time ago, shows no resentment, and is on a new success track with ASP.NET. His topic was dependency injection in ASP.NET MVC 3 and he did a great job with it.