Did you just put .NET in the does not work pile and Objective-C in the does work? I think I see flying pigs out my window.

You sound like you know nothing about Microsoft APIs. MFC is a C++ framework to make Win32 UIs a little easier to write. WinForms is the managed wrapper for Win32 UIs. WFC has nothing to do with UIs.

The OS team at Microsoft has always been about C and COM. Nothing has changed.

I got my kids the http://www.magiscope.com/ when they were that age. Has a cool light tube to direct light instead of a mirror or light bulb. Has a nice gear-less mechanism for adjusting focus. Uses easy to find threaded objective lenses. Pretty much indestructible..

Microsoft made LightSwitch to meet this same business need of quick-and-dirty database applications - the tag line is "build custom business apps, coding optional".

I believe the relatively new Lightswitch is an attempt to meet this exact need with the added benefit of creating a web deployable front-end.

Skydrive just upped the max file size to 300MB when using the browser interface (I can confirm this because I had some PDFs I used to split but I replaced them with single files this week).

I also believe that they allow 2GB file size for the desktop client.

Surface - so you admit that Microsoft is innovating and trying to create a new market where one didn't previously exist.

Metro - so you don't deny the fact that Microsoft is the first to make a unified UI from 3" screen to 80" screen and all form factors from phone to tablet to pc to gaming. You thinking it is a bad idea does not change the fact that Microsoft is innovating and not just cloning a competitor after "they're sure a market exists",

Surface == first commercial thing of its kind

Kinect == first commercial thing of its kind

Metro - unified UI across Phone, Gaming, Tablet, Desktop == first commercial thing of its kind

In none of those did Microsoft "wait until they're sure a market exists".

Wow. I just read "Digital Exams on the iPad" and it sounds like something Rube Goldberg would come up with if he was still alive.

They go through a ton of trouble to use the iPad only to end up with a printout of a PDF.

So why didn't they just use a printed test to being with?

Talk about using technology for technology's sake alone.

I would have to agree. In my area, there are 3 Best Buys for the 2 county region of about 700,000 people. They are usually busy. They are well organized. One has a nice musical instrument section and a higher-end home theater section (Magnolia).

I've purchased washer, dryer, laptop, and xbox 360 from them in the last few years. No problems.

The most annoying thing they did was to push their Geek Squad services on the laptop (install anti-virus and remove crapware). I had to say about 5 times "no thanks".

I will never buy appliance or large tv mail-order due to hassles of returning item.

Agreed - loving my WP7. Have had Android 2.2, iPhone 4, and iPhone 4S --- WP7 suits my needs best.

I can confirm this is absolutely the truth at my local Sprint store. They know nothing about Windows Phone 7. I had to show them that it had out-of-the-box syncing to Gmail contacts, email, and calendar (easier to setup than iPhone). Then they say they will wait for dual-core version. Of course WP7 runs very reasonably on single core but that doesn't matter -- they are all Android fan-boys who only think about number of cores and RAM, not about experience.

And you are forgetting the increased prices that Amazon was basically forced to do on ebooks because of Apple deals with publishers.

You are wrong.

Microsoft has given no indication that JavaScript/HTML is the preferred method for building Windows 8 Metro apps. Look at the MIX 2011 conference videos -- plenty of videos on C++, C#, and JavaScript. If anything, C++ is getting a stronger support than it has in the past few years.

You apparently don't know the difference between a language, a build tool, and an IDE so I don't think you are qualified to judge the merits of C#.

Agreed. For me, XAML is a hugely more productive markup language than HTML/CSS.

I seriously doubt that JavaScript/HTML/CSS will ever be more popular then C#/XAML for native Windows 8 Metro apps.

Look at Metro JavaScript code. Notice all the references to WinJS and ms- ?

It is not like you can easily turn that Metro app into a cross platform web application. So why bother using a crappy language like JavaScript if you lose the greatest advantage which is cross platform?

The only reason developers will choose this option is if JavaScript is the only language they know.