What’s Next for .NET?

Microsoft .NET logoWe thought we’d bring this discussion back around, following Rockford Lhotka‘s somewhat fatalistically-titled post, asking the question: Does .NET have a future?

The short answer is, of course. But the WHY part of the “of course” answer is the truly interesting part. Yes, it’ll stick around for awhile, because the infrastructure of today’s development is built around it, indeed, .NET is deeply entrenched in many industries and products. So the quick “of course” response is primarily because successful technologies, like .NET, take years, decades or longer to fade away.”

.NET, Azure, and the Future of Development

With the success of Windows Azure, it is important for developers and independent software vendors on the .NET platform to take stock of where Microsoft is headed with the framework. Check out the DotNetConf .NET Open Source Panel discussion that took place in April to hear what a few industry guys had to say.

Azure, Microsoft’s cloud platform, is quickly becoming a great place for developers. And that means all developers, building for all frameworks: Mobile, .NET, Node.js, Java, PHP, Python, Ruby, and the list goes on. Especially with the release of Windows 8, there has been a cloud of uncertainty for where .NET will stand in five years’ time. Are advances like MVC giving us a significant improvement on the .NET framework?

Are you building on the .NET platform? Where do you see NET headed in the next five years, and beyond?