What is the Future of ASP.NET?

What is the Future of ASP.NET?

Not good. Period!

Alright, short term future of ASP.NET is bright. But for the long term, it does not look bright at all.

Do you remember Silverlight? A few years ago, Microsoft marketing pushed it so hard, developers thought Silverlight will be the next Flash. Major Websites such as Netflix was developed using Silverlight and NBC telecasted live Olympics using Silverlight. 

Hell, I went on and even wrote almost a complete book on Silverlight. Where is Silverlight today?

Silverlight is dead. Period!

The Silverlight team will never admit it and has recently announced Silverlight 5 but Silverlight is already dying a slow death. Or should I say, dead already. Whatever websites were build, they are still running. I still see some clients asking to build new projects in Silverlight but these are clients that have no idea where Silverlight is today.

Silverlight is dead. Period.

And the killer is HTML 5 and JavaScript. Have you seen Microsoft's Silverlight.net website? It is dying too.

HTML 5 Killed Silverlight and Flash.

While Silverlight is out of the way, the next question is what is the future of ASP.NET?

Alright, let's think about it. Let's analyze it for a second. Being a mathematics background, I like to analyze problems based on the facts and algorithms before stating the outcome.

Let's ask ourselves this question: Why do we need ASP.NET?

Answer: Of course to build Web sites. Exactly!

OK, what has been the hottest web development technology in year 2012? The answer is, HTML 5, JavaScript and JQuery. 

And what do we do with HTML 5 and JavaScript? 

The answer is, we build Websites. 

So, why would I need ASP.NET if I can build websites using HTML 5, JavaScript and JQuery.

Hmmm!

Well, I can counter attack and say, can we build enterprise applications using HTML 5 and JavaScript? The answer was “No” until yesterday. But today, the answer may be “Yes”.

Recently, Microsoft announced TypeScript, a new superset or JavaScript that will let developers build complex and large applications purely based on JavaScript. Not only that, TypeScript developers can use Visual Studio 2012 as their development tool.

Still not satisfied? Well, I am not finished yet.

Earlier this year, Microsoft announced Metro Style apps (now called Windows Store apps or Windows 8 apps) for Windows Store. Guess what? There was no mention of ASP.NET. However, there was a big announcement of HTML 5 and JavaScript. 

There are two ways to build Windows Store apps. First, using XAML and C# and second using HTML 5 and JavaScript.

Now let's assume that I am a Windows developer. I am using HTML 5 and JavaScript to build my Windows Store apps that means I have HTML 5 and JavaScript skillset.

Now, let's say, I have to build a new Website.  I have two choices. First, I can learn ASP.NET or I can use my existing skills HTML 5 and JavaScript. Who really wants to learn another scripting language? Not me. 

So, back to our question, what is the future of ASP.NET?

Based on the above analysis and statements, I see myself not learning and using ASP.NET.

ASP.NET will be used by non HTML web developers.

But there will always be developers who are non-pure web developers and are not comfortable with scripting and HTML who will be using ASP.NET to develop their Websites.

Microsoft is now focusing on ASP.NET MVC and the Web API. I can see the Web API being used for a while no matter where ASP.NET is going today. As a matter of fact, we are using Web API for couple of our projects that are nothing but pure iPhone and Android apps. 

What do you think about ASP.NET and its future? Share Your Thoughts here.

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Source from

http://www.c-sharpcorner.com/Blogs/10140/what-is-the-future-of-Asp-Net.aspx