Many developers have asked me this question what is the future of Windows Forms and ASP.NET after Microsoft introducing WPF in .NET 3.0 and 3.5.
First of all, let me start saying that Windows Forms and ASP.NET are not dead and are an integral part of .NET 3.0 and 3.5. So if you install .NET 3.0 or 3.5, support for both Windows Forms and ASP.NET is automatically available.
However, there is a twist. As we look back, is VB 6 or COM or VC++ dead after introduction of .NET? Not dead but definitely diminishing slowly and time will come when they will disapear. So when was .NET introduced? .NET was introduced in year 1999 and 2000 and still you will find developers using VB 6 and VC++.
Same applies to Windows Forms and ASP.NET. Recently, many Windows applications have been replaced with ASP.NET web applications as users are moving to the Web. The growing demand of Google's online mail system and Windows Live and other mail systems is a proof that people are moving their contents to the Web and slowly the concept of client applications similar to Windows Forms wil fade away.
That said, if you are planning your future and have a choice between Windows Forms, ASP.NET or WPF, I would suggest pick WPF and .NET 3.0. Slowly, Microsoft is adding many beatiful yet powerful controls to .NET 3.0 and 3.5 that will blow away the developers mind. If you notice, power audio and video tools in WPF are simply amazing. Power if having a rectangle its own event is just wonderful.
We have bunch of .NET 3.0 and XAML sections. Check them out and stay tuned for much more.
Cheers!