Many developers have expressed concern over Microsoft’s apparent move towards HTML5 and JavaScript, and away from former darlings ASP.NET and Silverlight. While their concern is valid, they should keep in mind that Microsoft has always had a great relationship with John Resig, the creator of jQuery, which is already integrated into the Visual Studio and ASP.NET frameworks.
In May, a project template for HTML5 Semantic Markup was added to the Model View Controller framework, and the ASP.NET MVC 3 Tools update that introduced it also included the Modernizr JavaScript library. And in June, Microsoft announced its Web Standards Update, which included additional support in Visual Studio 2010 Service Pack 1, along with CSS3 and JavaScript IntelliSense and validation and support in its VB editor. Microsoft was already enthusiastic about HTML5 and related technologies–and doesn’t appear to be losing interest in former darlings–they are just supplementing them with support for the newer technologies.