Writing compilers/transpilers in JavaScript is all the rage right now. It started with CoffeeScript and Objective-J, and quickly expanded to tons of existing and new languages, some of which are now listed on the 
Windows Runtime explained
I’ve just seen watched an interesting talk by Martyn Lovell, explaining the Windows Runtime used to develop Metro Style apps. When I saw the interface IUnknown in his presentation, I almost feared that COM had a glorious return (there is also something called IInspectable). But fortunately most of the time the average developer doesn’t have to deal with these low level APIs, because they are projected to language specific APIs that can be used as if part of the language.
What is kind of a bummer is that the new Windows Runtime cannot be used outside of the context of these Metro style apps and of course the good old Win32 API is still there. So not really a complete fresh start in this regard, but definitely heading in the right direction.
For those who are interested in more details, here is the link to the talk:
