Will jQuery together with HTML5 be the technology of the future? Or will Silverlight dominate the internet market share with the upcoming versions 5 and 6?
Do you think it' safe to pick either technology if I have no specific preference for jQuery or Silverlight?
EDIT: Please don't vote for [Close]. I am looking for valid and constructive answers for choosing Silverlight over jQuery or vice versa.
I think even with HTML 5, Silverlight vs. HTML is apples vs. oranges. Although using canvas allows the drawing of vector art and despite the fact that the control set is widened, HTML 5 is still not primarily a control-templating, vector-graphics-drawing platform. Also, having a CLR runtime with loadable DLLs is much more powerful than having JavaScript with just loadable scripts.
But Silverlight doesn't displace the potentials of HTML 5, either. HTML 5 will still be a much better choice than Silverlight for displaying documents and forms where you need less rich rendering capabilities.
Technology changes too quickly to speculate about HTML v. Silverlight. You need to look at today. JQuery is here now and has broad support. HTML5 isn't here yet and is a long way off from being relevant. Silverlight has far too little market penetration to be taken seriously at this point. jQuery in my opinion is the better of those choices. In five years maybe who knows.