Via Lambda the Ultimate, some good programming humor:
Mutable variables eliminated from .NET
Redmond, WA: At an unusual press conference held this Sunday morning, Bill Taylor, Microsoft’s General Manager of Platform Strategy, announced that after much research into the causes of security holes and instabilities, Microsoft will eliminate mutable variables from the .NET platform and its languages, including C# and VB.NET. "One of our top researchers found that mutable variables were the major root cause preventing us from achieving the great user experience we always strive to deliver," said Taylor. "Once we realized that, eliminating them from .NET was a no-brainer."
Given that this announcement was made on a Sunday, reactions have been limited so far, but one prominent VB.NET developer commented that "Compared to the switch from VB6 to VB.NET, this ought to be a breeze. [...]
The funny thing is, I’ve been thinking that, in all seriousness, this isn’t such a bad idea. Microsoft’s F# plays with it a little, but doesn’t focus on functional purity. Why make a research language do something halfway?