http://herbsutter.com/2012/05/03/reader-qa-what-about-vc-and...

If you fully implement C++11, then C11 comes along for relatively little cost.

I keep hoping that Microsoft will wake up and realise that just as HTML5 was important, so is language support for the lingua-franca of the computing world.

For a company that wants to charge $13K+ for the "Ultimate" edition of their product, I'm not impressed with the current support.

And what was Microsoft doing in those 12 years between C99 and C11? What are they doing so inefficiently in their design that they can't figure out how to implement C when every other C++ compiler team has? Come on, Clang didn't even exist until 6 years ago.

Stupid positions Microsoft takes like this with regards to C99 and C11 only underscore how pathetic, short sighted, and clueless they have been for over a decade. They have needlessly alienated developers they profess they need so much for so little reason. How ironic that now they are begging developers to do Windows RT and are promoting "going native".

Actually for me this is a sign that they are finally starting to Get It. I agree with your sentiments on the last decade but it seems to be improving now.

If you're doing low level work (e.g. the layout of your objects is a concern to you), stick with C. C++ often gets in the way there and you won't be able to write idiomatic C++. If it's midlevel you're better off with C++. If it's high level, neither of these are a good fit, and you're better off looking elsewhere.