Is MAUI another Silverlight? A retrospective on every Microsoft UI framework, and why developers are tired

Microsoft has shipped more UI frameworks than any other vendor in computing history. Win32, MFC, WinForms, WPF, Silverlight, Xamarin.Forms, UWP, WinUI, MAUI, Blazor Hybrid. Each launched with a deck full of reasons this one was the future. Some are still here. Most are not. The real question is not whether MAUI is the next Silverlight; it is why a working developer in 2026 should ever again bet on…