If you already are using VB.NET, you will still be able to create windows
applications without XAML.
XAML just provides a way to create a UI using XML (and an associated .NET
code-behind type file, .vb, .cs, etc). IMHO, this, coupled with newer .NET
deployment models will eventually wipe out HTML applications. HTML will
still be a popular mechanism for doing what it was originally designed for -
content/layout. But the ease of creating and deploying rich apps that don't
have the limitations of browsers and script will catch on quick. For
example, I know a lot of IT technicians and admins that write simple utility
scripts - they will now be able to create a complete tool UI in XML using
XAML. But think of XAML only as a way to provide a UI definition using XML.
That's about all it is. This won't substitute creating EXEs in as much as
you will still be able to create these without XAML. Eventually, there will
be designers that will allow you to "paint" the UI, and it will complete the
XML portion for you. At any rate, XAML is still a ways off, and from what I
can tell, isn't feature-complete yet, so you still have plenty of time to
learn it if you want to.
What's particularly interesting is the non-MS world's (primarily the Linux
crowd) take on XAML. From the blogs and reviews that I've seen, they are
taking this as a serious threat to web (in their opinion web = HTML)
applications. The threat for them is that MS is creating a superior model
that is extremely easy to use, and (the dangerous part) completely bypasses
the W3C standards board (or any standards board for that matter). The fear
is that people will find the flexibility and ease of use so compelling that
they won't care that XAML only runs on Windows - just like most of the HTML
today is written for IE, and not as generic HTML that any browser can use,
but worse. There are already a few projects (and the MONO guys are in on
this too) to create XAML for non-Windows platforms. In my opinion, this will
only help accelerate the adoption of XAML, and quicken the demise of HTML
for web apps (which may not be exactly what they had in mind?) Therefore,
ignoring XAML completely will probably not be a good idea in the long run.
-Rob Teixeira [MVP]
