It is my belief that Windows Forms will outlive WPF and/or XAML. Currently WPF is still the "modern" way to doing Windows applications, but at some point Microsoft will come up with some new scheme, and all the WPF developer will jump onto that.
The developers that have still not abandoned WinForms will not jump shit when the next thing hits either. To keep the huge group of WinForms developers happy, Microsoft will continue to support and develop Winforms. For many, WinForms are still the fasted way to develop simple applications.
So if you want develop for the Windows (desktop) platform, WinForms will be a clear winner for many many years into the future.
WinForms are still the fastest way to develop complex applications as well. From soup to nuts, it's probably the pinnacle of front end development.
Trends started going from WinForms to web around 2000 as pushback against Microsoft so here we are today. I still think from a business standpoint, it was a very expensive thing to do.
Except that WinForms doesn't work on UWP applications other than via Project Centipede and is officially on support as it was communicated at BUILD 2014.
Of cause. My point is that so many business applications are Windows Forms, and will continue to be so for many years to come.
Removing WinForms will disenfranchise a large group of developers, that for one reason or another, it could just be stubbornness, won't switch. Microsoft will sooner kill of WPF than WinForms, to not lose those developers. At least that's my belief.
"Windows Forms is continuing to be supported, but in maintenance mode. They will fix bugs as they are discovered, but new functionality is off the table. Oh, they stress that it isn’t called “WinForms”."
As I don't have time to search for the video on Channel 9.
The developers that have still not abandoned WinForms will not jump shit when the next thing hits either. To keep the huge group of WinForms developers happy, Microsoft will continue to support and develop Winforms. For many, WinForms are still the fasted way to develop simple applications.
So if you want develop for the Windows (desktop) platform, WinForms will be a clear winner for many many years into the future.