[logfromblammo]

Given enough constraints on the development environment, WPF can turn out to be the best choice.

Those constraints are usually as follows:

- Our developers cannot use anything not written and distributed by Microsoft, and can use only our existing licenses.

- The end users will not have full administrative control over their workstations. They might not be able to install a Java VM, Flash, Silverlight, or even a browser other than the version of IE that came with their OS.

This sort of environment is depressingly common in the government contracting sector. When your choices are WPF, WinForms, ASP.NET, Excel macros, or Access database, the first option seems pretty attractive. And this is especially relevant when the documentation from Microsoft promotes a model-view-viewmodel design pattern for WPF applications. That's a great way to get people who haven't read a single paragraph about best practices since graduation to step boldly into a new decade, even if it is not the one the rest of us currently live in.