I just learned about Microsoft's Web Standards Update to Visual Studio, and I think it's a great step for Microsoft. When Microsoft showed Windows 8 apps written with HTML, CSS, and Javascript, a lot of Microsoft dev's - especially Silverlight dev's - whined expressed concern about being abandoned by Microsoft.
My area - Tulsa, OK - is dominated by enterprise/Microsoft developers. I have heard horror stories of websites built by enterprise/Microsoft developers who know very little outside of Visual Studio. We're working on opening the web developer atmosphere up with stuff like Tulsa Web Devs and Tulsa Hackathon, and we're trying not to scare away the couple of Microsoft dev's (like Chris and Chris) who have come.
Philosophically, and as a recent Eclipse-to-vim convert, I know how much difference good developer tools can make, and I know Visual Studio is way up there for many developers. This web standards update is great for Microsoft web developers. I hope the project gains momentum, and gets some more official Microsoft promotion - more than their equally good WebMatrix project. (Which I heard about just a few weeks ago, even though I'm a web developer in a Microsoft-heavy area?)
