Microsoft announced their new User Interface to Windows 8 last week. The interface is very tablet-minded and uses a Windows Phone 7-like tile architecture with widgets based on HTML5 and Javascript. Silverlight developers took that as a slap in the face and flooded Microsoft’s developer network forums to voice their opinions. Microsoft has not confirmed or denied that they will continue support for Silverlight in Windows 8; Microsoft has thus also not stated if they do support Silverlight on Windows 8, how much ongoing support will be provided to Silverlight.

That interface doesn’t look very silvery, or light.

I think the real message here is that when you invest (through time, money, or otherwise) in a proprietary infrastructure you need to expect that you have no real recourse should the owner work against you; you voided all recourse except for what is explicitly contractually bound to you. In the case of an open, particularly copyleft, platform: should support from the original owners be absent or insufficient you are legally allowed to take over provided that right is also granted by you. Often it may still be worthwhile to invest in proprietary platforms, but remember, you give up your right to maintain your dependencies. All your dependent art is relying on your trust in the platform owner, and you have no legal recourse, because you gave it away.

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