Forget Silverlight. Silverlight is dead and HTML 5 killed it. What is the future of Windows Forms? Windows Forms has been around for over a decade and so many applications have been built using Windows Forms, it will be around for a while.

Going forward, I see more trend using WPF over Windows Forms (unless a company has a team of Windows Forms developers).

Today, WPF is in demand. There aren't too many WPF developers. It is very difficult to find good WPF developers. But what is the future of WPF?

Since the launch of Windows 8, Microsoft has been pushing Windows Store app very hard and here is another proof that Microsoft is now slowly becoming an open source development shop.

If you look at MCSD Certifications Microsoft is offering today, it has three tracks:

  • Windows Store Apps
  • Web Applications
  • ALM

MCSD.png

1. Let's take a look at Windows Store Apps. You see HTML 5, JavaScript, CSS3, and C#.

MCSD-WindowsStoreApp.png

2. Let's take a look at Web Applications, You see HTML 5, JavaScript, CSS3, ASP.NET 4.5 MVC, and Windows Azure.

MCSD-WebApplications.png

3. Finally, here is ALM.

MCSD-ALM.png


As you can see from the developer certifications above, I don't see Windows Forms, WPF and standard ASP.NET. ASP.NET will be there but not much to add what it is today.

Surprisingly, I don't see WPF in the list.

While Windows Forms and WPF applications are still being developed. Most of the web applications (Microsoft track) are still being developed using ASP.NET but what is Microsoft hinting for based on my above point? If you are Windows Forms, WPF or ASP.NET developer, there is no panic but I would be little concerned where Microsoft is headed with its new Windows 8 and Windows Store Apps.