http://forums.silverlight.net/forums/t/230744.aspx
WPF and Silverlight developers have valid reasons to be concerned that the Microsoft .NET UI platforms they have grown to love and support – because they’re the best in the world – are being demoted in Windows 8 in a way that could relegate them to a place of obscurity. This place of obscurity could even be a way of letting them ‘die on the vine,’ if indeed they were no longer put forth as platforms of the future, and supported as such. We would like to know: Do Silverlight and WPF have an integral, irreplaceable, and front-facing role to play in Windows 8 and in the future?
The announcement of a “new platform, based on … HTML5 and JavaScript,” could prove to be an exciting opportunity, both for Microsoft and for developers. While opinions amongst .NET developers may vary on this, many of us appreciate the possibilities this could open up. But in less than 24 hours of these announcements, the resounding chorus of WPF/SL developers is that they are greatly concerned that this “new platform” is being put out in a manner and tone that demotes the role and importance of SL/WPF. One might reasonably wonder if this is an over-reaction. But the following points paint a sobering picture that seems to justify these concerns:
- In all of the officially released statements concerning the upcoming Windows 8, there has not been one, not one, prepared statement that even mentions the future role of .NET, WPF, or Silverlight in Windows 8, contrary to all of the statements concerning the integral role the new HTML5 platform will play. Only after Windows President S. Sinofsky was asked what role Silverlight played in Windows 8, was it stated that it would continue to run in IE and on the desktop. Clearly then, our concern is not that these terrific platforms will be terminated, but that they might be left to ‘dry on the vine.’
- In an officially released video dubbed “Building Windows 8” by Jensen Harris, Director of PM of Windows User Experience, Jensen clearly portrays a dichotomy of apps that will exist on Windows 8: 1) Apps that are repeatedly called “Windows 8 Apps,” which he speaks of as “Web-connected and web-powered apps built using HTML5 and JavaScript,” and 2) “Existing windows apps.” WPF / Silverlight apps seem to be precluded from the “Windows 8 Apps.” We do not want Silvelight and WPF apps to be relegated to a “classic” (if even a “legacy”) category, while we hope to see a paradigm of “Windows 8 HTML5 Apps” exist alongside of “Windows 8 WPF/Silverlight Apps,” both of which will constitute the front-facing, cool new look of Windows 8.
- The MIX 2011 conference focused almost exclusively on HTML5 technologies, with little focus on Silverlight.
- A new developer conference called BUILD has been announced in place of what would have been PDC for September (www.buildwindows.com). Again we see no mention whatsoever of WPF, SL, or .NET: “Go behind the scenes and learn all about the new app model that allows you to create powerful new apps. All while retaining the ability to use your existing apps. Web-connected and web-powered apps built using HTML5 and JavaScript [that] have access to the power of the PC.” While the commitment is made there that .NET apps (“your existing apps”) will not of course be terminated, one is lead to believe that WPF/SL apps do not have a key role to play in the new Windows 8, front-facing model.
- Perhaps of lesser significance, but the following raises questions: “When Scott Guthrie, former corporate vice president of the .NET Platform at Microsoft, left the Developer Division [even on the very day of the announcement of this “new” Windows 8 app “platform”] to head up a new Windows Azure business unit, I was more than concerned… ” (M. Desmond, The Sinofsky Shuffle, http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2011/06/01/pcfra_guthrie.aspx).
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