About a year ago there was talk about a Flash/Ajax eliminator. Microsoft was unveiling a new competing plug-in that would blow Flash, Ajax, JavaScript, and CSS apparently all out of the water. It was based on the .Net technology, and at the same time was cross browser AND cross operating system compatible.
 
1 year later, I don't see a lot of talk about it in the tech world, in fact I remember disregarding it completely when it was announce, and I believe most Flash and JavaScript Developers did. Interesting enough, People at the Y Combinator, which invest in web 2.0 and other emerging companies, don’t even take in consideration if Microsoft is already in the field when funding a company. They consider seeing if Google is in the field they are trying to get into, and ways t avoid them now. Google has all the power of a multi-billion dollar company, but a lot of the nimbleness and energy of a startup.