Don't believe the hype. Microsoft has never said SL5 is the last version. Just because they haven't mentioned SL6, doesn't mean it's not coming. Before SL4 was released, no one talked about SL5. It's no different this time. For line-of-business type of web-apps, Silverlight is still the premier client, and will continue to be for a long time. Just because Microsoft now also backs up HTML5, doesn't mean another thing goes away. They are apples and oranges really - Instead they complement each other - they don't need to be mutually exclusive. Let me repeat what Microsoft has said numerous of times that people seem to ignore: 1. "What runs today on Vista and Win7 will continue to run on Win8". 2. "If you know how to develop for Windows today, you will already know how to develop for Windows 8". I have a Windows 8 preview tablet, and Silverlight runs just fine on it, and the Visual Studio 11 Preview builds Silverlight apps just fine too. I'm not worried. P.S. I think your CAPS LOCK key is stuck... 🙂
To develop mapping apps for Metro, it would require a new API tailored for WinRT. Esri doesn't have one of those (at least just yet). This is VERY early to make any promises/commitments or lay out a plan on what Esri will be doing with WinRT, if anything (that doesn't mean we aren't looking at it - just that this is only research for now)
