One other thing I forgot to mention in my post on Bill Gates Tech Ed keynote: Silverlight vs WPF. Someone asked Gates whether desktop applications were merging with web applications; Gates actually misunderstood the question, which he heard as whether Silverlight and WPF were being merged together. He said:

With WPF we get to assume we have the full power of the PC; we’re not just running in a browser environment … Silverlight will probably have almost everything WPF has today, but WPF will keep getting richer and richer as we go forward.

In reality, it would not surprise me if Silverlight thoroughly outshines WFP. I realise that they share a lot of technology, in particular XAML and the .NET Framework. But in many ways Silverlight is .NET done right, from a client perspective; it delivers just what is necessary for a rich client. It also runs cross-platform, a huge asset bearing in mind the increasing market share of the Mac and signs of life in desktop Linux. I’d also suggest that Silverlight will not always be restricted to the browser – look at Times Reader for proof.

In answer to the question actually asked: undoubtedly.