>>But i said "projects I find interesting" - to me that means learning new things and getting to leverage the brilliance and hard work of the current best and brightest. I like being able to google for answers and to see what guys like John Papa are doing and explore how our current state of development communities is creating a synergy of ideas. i am more interested in that, as someone who is much more historian than techno-geek, as the real story. Imagine if the early 17th century or the late 15th would have allowed for the kind of cross-fertilization of ideas that we have come to take for granted and didn't even exist in our industry 20 years ago.

Sounds wonderful- but wasn't John Papa a Silverlight Wunderkind? The title of this thread shows why we should pay heed to the synergies of ideas that he urged upon us as an exciting viable future. OK, I'm not really getting at him ;-) but an awful lot of informed opinion considers that mobile on a prevalet OS is *the* exciting locale if you want best and brightest and the most exciting stuff going on. Grandpa boxes are just blah by comparison.

>>I just meant I don't have to bet with the long term consensus winner, I just have to bet wisely enough to be able to satisfy the requirements stated above, feeding my curiosity, wallet and slothful nature in proper proportions.

Fair enough if it's mostly a hobby- but if it's advice to others who need to earn a living, surely they're better advised to look where the action is heading rather than where we increasingly creaky old men congregate and tell ourselves we're still cool? ;)