Waiting for the MS/HTML5 Roadmap, Tools, Vision, etc. (Would somebody please get Ballmer a black turtleneck)
J. Ja - jump in here...
I have heard a lot of talk about HTML5 and its implications in and out of the browser, but MS has been exceptionally tight-lipped about a roadmap to implementation of the standard in and out of the browser.
There have been a lot of us waiting for SilverLight to mature into a reasonable stable product before giving it a serious look as a presentation platform that we want to spend the time learning. Combine this with the learning curve involved with WPF (and its current uncertainty as an ongoing focus of MS's offerings) and there are a lot of Windows developers waiting on a real believable development roadmap for VS users and the Windows platform in general.
There has been little dribs and drabs coming out about Win8 and out-of-browser HTML5, but nothing that sounds like a vision.
I don't know about everyone else here, but I just don't have the time or the patience to learn a platform that MS is not going to support for the long term. If that means my apps look bland because I am the last guy using WinForms for my internal business apps, so be it.
MS needs to get its [stuff] together in this regard. When Jobs gets on stage and tells you 'one more thing', you know that is really the direction the company is going and you need to get on board. When Ballmer gets on stage and waves around a new piece of tech (HP Tablet, Azure, Kin, Origami, Vista, Groove, WinME, Bob....) you have no idea whether or not this the new 'all in' thrust of the company, or just what was on his mind over breakfast this morning.
MS - pick a technology, create a roadmap, design your products to exploit it, and get on with it already...
