There was no substance behind that. It was just a poorly managed PR disaster. One of many during that year that Windows 8 was launched. Silverlight deserved to

There was no substance behind that. It was just a poorly managed PR disaster. One of many during that year that Windows 8 was launched. Silverlight deserved to die. But somewhere along the line the Windows division got the wrong end of the stick and thought that meant all of .NET too. They've stopped the rot now between the DevDiv and Windows divisions. Heads were banged together over that one. Sinofsky was blatantly behind it, that's why he got sacked. It wasn't about Windows 8 not being a good product (it was). It was because he was running the show like Steve Jobs did in the 80s; actively fostering mistrust between teams and undermining intra-division communication and respect. I don't think the Windows division will ever fully respect .NET for what it is until some of the old guard have moved on. Which is a real shame. It is a first class programming stack that is practically unrivalled.