Anthony,
>I have no idea of what MS plans are, but I will say from my developer point of view I see C# being pushed and it seems to me to be MS's new favorite language ( VB being the old one. ) Again this is just my personal feelings and feelings can sometimes become reality. Maybe that is what your friend is doing, e.g. his reality is what he has personally observered, not any offical MS stance.
Hmmm, could it be that different departments within Microsoft are pushing different tools? Sibling rivalry probably is very real out there, and may keep the various camps working to top each other.