By The Web Is Dead
(Long Live the Web!)
Web死了
（Web万岁）
by Rockford Lhotka
August 1, 2007
http://www.ftponline.com/vsm/2007_08/magazine/departments/guestop/
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译者Fdream注：
似乎Web正如日中天，但是不难发现，Web技术的发展却远远超出了最初的HTML，各种个样的技术的出现，是否意味者Web已经结束了或者即将结束？如果Web结束了，我们用什么来替代Web所带来的一切方便和好处？
该文作者是微软公司的地区主管，文章中极度地对Silverlight进行了赞颂，但是从中我们也可以对Web的未来有所遇见，也可以看到微软对Web的一些策略。
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Many people have predicted the end of the Web, or the death of the browser. Obviously neither prediction has come true. Even in the worst of the “dot-bomb” years, Web development remained a significant concern at companies of almost any size.
许多人曾经预言Web的结束或者浏览器的死亡。显然，没有哪一个预言成为现实。甚至在最恶劣的“dot爆炸”时代，Web开发仍然是几乎所有公司的关注的重点。
But I do think the Web, as we know it, is finally coming to an end. And this does not make me unhappy.
就像我们所知道的那样，我仍然认为Web正在走向最终结束。但这并没有是我不高兴。
In recent memory you would be hard-pressed to find any technology that remained mainstream and viable for more than about 10 years. Think about CORBA, COM, Win32, and even Java. Each had a good run of no more than a decade before the “next big thing” came along, relegating once-viable technologies to the status of legacy technologies.
在最近的记忆中，你可能很难找出那些已经超过了十年而当今仍是主流和可行的技术。想想COBRA、COM、Win32甚至是Java。在“下一件大事”来临之前，每一种技术都没有很好地连续运用超过十年，而成为曾经可行的遗留技术。
Depending on when you start counting, the Web as we know it is around 10 years old, and so it’s time for it to gracefully pass on and officially become a legacy technology. It’s about time, too. The Web has driven some incredible and important changes in the way we think about software development. At the same time, the Web is little more than a stack of hacks that has grown ever deeper and nastier as time has passed.
正如我们所知道的，Web已经差不多有十年了，关键看你从什么时候开始算。现在是该它优雅地离去而正式地成为遗留技术。它的时间已到了。在软件开发的方式上，Web曾经推动了一些令人难以置信也非常重要的改变。同时，Web是众多黑客日趋深入和凶狠的时间已经过去了。
It’s important to remember that HTTP and HTML were designed as document transport and viewing technologies. Everything else, including the ability of users to enter data, managing state, style sheets, and client-side script and server callbacks (AJAX) are hacks layered on top of something that was never designed to do what it is used for today. No sane person would design the Web to work the way it does, and the result is barely contained chaos.
HTTP和HTML是为文件传输和显示而设计的技术，记得这一条非常重要。所有的一切，包括用户输入数据的能力、管理状态、样式表以及客户端脚本和服务器回调（AJAX）都是黑客层面上的一些技术，而它们本来并不是为今天这些用途而设计的。没有理智的人会去按照Web的工作方式去设计，而这个结果是极度混乱的。
And yet this barely contained chaos is arguably the dominant programming model in the world today. For the moment.
不论如何，这种极度混乱已经被论证为今天世界上占主导地位的编程模型，就在此刻。
I submit that AJAX is the last gasp of a dying technology. It is the hack that adds the straw that will break the camel’s back. Yes, AJAX is cool, and it allows some adequately rich interaction while retaining reasonably broad reach, but it also pushes the browser as far as we’re likely to go. Beyond this point, either the browser transforms into a full-blown programming platform or we find another answer.
我曾经提出AJAX是最后一个一息尚存的技术。就是它使得Web再难以顶住。是的，AJAX很酷，它允许充分的富互动而只仍然保持适度的带宽，但是它也把浏览器推的想我们想得那么远。超越这一点，无论哪一个浏览器转变成为一个全面爆发的编程平台，或许我们就会找到另一个答案。
And the industry has already arrived at another answer represented by Silverlight and Atlas. If the browser can’t become a full-blown programming platform, we’ll just use it as a launch point to load something else that is a programming platform.
这个行业已经找到了另一个答案，那就是Silverlight和Atlas所描绘出来的。如果浏览器不能成为一个全面爆发的编程平台，我们只好用它来作为一个载入其他编程平台的载入点。
Silverlight 1.1 is in an alpha state right now, but I believe it represents the future of the Web. The Web isn’t dead, but it is about to undergo the biggest transformation in the past decade. Given a choice between writing complex JavaScript that must accommodate differences in browsers to interact with an antiquated browser API, or writing C# or VB .NET code that is consistent regardless of browser or platform, and which uses a modern API, I think most developers would choose the latter, hands down. And that’s Silverlight (if Microsoft delivers on the promise of the alpha release).
Silverlight 1.1现在已经是Alpha状态了，我相信它描绘了Web的未来。Web没有死，但是它即将遭受在过去的十年里最大的转变。给出一个选择：是去写要适应不同的浏览器的陈旧的API交互的复杂的JavaScript，还是去写与浏览器和平台无关、使用现代API的C#或者VB.NET代码？我想大多数的开发者回选择后面的，唾手可得的。而那就是Silverlight（如果Microsoft按承诺发布Alpha版的话）。
Instead of using the aging and overly complex HTML, you can create the visual layout using the modern and well-designed XAML language. Instead of using interpreted and hard to debug script, you can use compiled .NET languages. Instead of testing across multiple platforms and browsers, you can spend your time building more features and testing them more completely.
你可以使用现代的有着良好设计的XAML预言创建可视化的布局，而不是古老的极其复杂的HTML。你可以使用编译性的.NET语言，而不是使用解释性且非常难以调试的脚本语言。你可以把你的时间用来创造更多的特色和进行更完整测试，而不是用来测试它在各种平台和浏览器之间的兼容性。
Perhaps most importantly, you can achieve levels of rich user interaction that are prohibitively expensive or even impossible using DHTML and AJAX. Given access to XAML and .NET on the client, you can create user experiences that Web developers have only dreamed of providing. All that, with the same zero complexity deployment characteristics that have made the Web so popular.
可能更重要的是，你可以在同样廉价的条件下达到与使用DHTML和AJAX时同等丰富的用户交互，甚至用DHTML和AJAX无法达到的。如果在客户端能够使用XAML和.NET，你可以创造Web开发者梦寐以求的用户体验。所有的一切，包括零难度的部署特征使得Web变得如此流行。
Yes, the Web as we know it is drawing to a close. But the future of the Web has never been brighter!
是的，Web正在走向结束。而Web的未来却是前所未有的光明！
About the Author
Rockford Lhotka is the author of several books, including the Expert VB and C# 2005 Business Objects books and related CSLA .NET framework. He is a Microsoft Regional Director, MVP and INETA speaker. Rockford is the Principal Technology Evangelist for Magenic (www.magenic.com), a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner.