While there is something to be said for unification of the programming model from end to end, it is not paramount to have it if you work with dedicated and disciplined staff. There, I used the "D" word. My RIA tool of choice is Flex. My stack is Flex, ColdFusion, SQL Server, Perl and Delphi(as needed), so I sat down and defined the handoff between each of them. My shop knows that standards and they follow them. I also have the added benefit of being able to outsource an individual piece of work on a platform without having to explain the whole stack to "curious" minds.

Silverlight? Yeah, whatever...

DOTNET? no, our technology is NOT DAT.

Silverlight *is* significant, in the *Microsoft* space.

And I am personally interested in it, because I do work in that space, among others.

BUT....

It *only* works on an end to end MS 'stack'. As such it is limited.

In the real world, most modern distributed applications are multi-platform. And a programming model or toolset that is tied to a single vendor will always be a niche.

Microsoft needs to get serious about interoperablility with the rest of the world. They need to understand and embrace the concept of standards. And standards do NOT begin and end in Redmond.

I fully agree with you, which is partly why I decided to switch to C# and .NET 3.x last year after so many years in LAMP. I really like the leverage that is emerging for the developer/designer. I have watched over 100 webcasts and read a lot before switching, and I really sensed both the converging of compelling capabilities and an openness to interoperating with other non-MS technologies. I am really excited about the future in this!

WOW! Where do I send Microsoft my paychecks! I mean this is amazing! Hey did Microsoft also create the internet along with Al Gore?

This is article was nothing more than Microsoft propaganda trying to catch up to the all the other products that have already made RIA a success on the internet. This may come as a HUGE shock to a lot of people out there, but there is more to the RIA development than Microsoft. Just so happens that Microsoft is trying to catch the wave and join the "rave".

JW

SilverLight 2.0 is HUGE. While there is too much to go into here, here are some biggies.
1. You can never understate the unification of the programming model from end to end. It's productivity plus, and elimination of a eccentric language(javascript).
2. It drives browser prigramming back to the more traditional models. GONE are style sheets, divs, both relative and absolute, and other such models to control look and feel.
3. Another huge benefit is data transmission. Now you can transmit TRUE c# objects across the pipe instead of going to JSON(which wasn't that bad), but the performance should go through the roof(as CLR's go) because javascript is so slow.
Yes, I'm REALLY looking forward to SilverLight 2.0(1.x was a joke).

Anytime you can create a blog post about the .NET Framework that also includes borrowed half-quotations from Lord of the Rings, you've got to take that opportunity