Nearly a year ago, Microsoft pulled together a group of reporters for Bing Fall Release event. The highlight of the presentation was a demo showing off some nifty new features in Bing Maps. The problem? All of this stuff required Microsoft's Silverlight browser plug-in to work. I berated the company for once again pushing users towards a more proprietary web. So today it's time to laud them, as they seem to be backing away from that strategy. During last week's Professional Developers Conference (PDC), ZDNet's Mary-Jo Foley asked Bob Muglia , Microsoft's SVP of the Server and Tools Business, why the company failed to highlight Silverlight in a meaningful way this year. His answer was rather surprising.