This is the story of a man well known around town – let’s call him Mike O’Soft. Mike is so popular, that people flock to the parties he throws. Historically, so many people go to his parties that it’s the place to be – their popularity attracts even more people, which then attract more people….
However, there are some people in the community who have always viewed Mike’s popularity as a bad thing. They felt that too many people just do whatever Mike says, whether it’s the best thing to do or not. So these other people started throwing their own parties. Not as many people went to these parties, but they were glad they were there and not at Mike’s parties.
Over time, Mike got married. His wife, Silvia, was very popular among the people at Mike’s parties. Silvia would light up the room whenever she appeared. It is said that Silvia could feel comfortable at some parties outside of Mike’s, but nobody at those parties really cared about Silvia, so Silvia mostly hung out with Mike’s friends and was very popular among these people.
Over time, an interesting thing happened at the parties that Mike wasn’t at. A youngster by the name of Javice Crypt started going to these parties. At first Javice was awkward. Nevertheless – she developed a few friends at each of these other parties, and eventually her network of friends started to grow over time. Even Mike would greet her when passing her on the street and would invite her to his parties.
Eventually, Javice grew up. In fact, she matured into a beautiful young woman who had so many friends that people learned to ignore her awkwardness and admire her good traits. She became popular at all the parties. Her widespread popularity meant that it didn’t matter which party you went to – as long as you knew Javice, you were welcome. Mike’s parties were no longer the only large parties in town.
Javice’s popularity grew so much that even Mike started to court her. He invited her to all of his parties and showed her off to all of his friends. He even talked about how important Javice would be to his future parties.
Mike’s friends found this confusing. They liked Silvia, and enjoyed her company. They didn’t really know this Javice that well, so they confronted Mike and asked “All you talk about these days is Javice. We really love Silvia – what is your future with her? Should we continue to like her, or should we become friends with Javice?”
“Well, I love Silvia,” Mike replied. “I am married to her. We have had a long relationship and due to her maturity, she knows how to do things that Javice cannot do yet. I’ve even talked about how the relationship between me and Silvia will grow in the future.”
“Yes, that’s true,” people said, “You have said that, but not recently. And when you do talk about future parties, all you talk about is Javice. What are we to think of the future of Silvia?”
And all Mike would say is “Javice’s popularity is undeniable, and she is therefore very important to my future parties. For more details, you will have to wait until my Build Conference in Anaheim this September.”
And this is why I am learning JavaScript – because Microsoft refuses to give a straight answer about the future of Silverlight in Windows 8.
