Having just read that Thurrot article the guy is definitely butthurt over Microsoft conceding the "Windows Developer Platform" is effectively defunct (which, for WP and other products, who cares?) but .NET and Azure will continue on. The question is whether or not they run "native" or "emulated" which most people are stated it will be in an emulated way.
I would argue that they have no choice (really) but to run native at this point with the amount of money Intel is pushing into x86 Android tablets as well as this weird chasm of compatibility between said devices. With W10, Microsoft understands that to run the platform they need to have a compelling entry point to the end users data. I remember before I got my SP3 that I toyed with the idea of getting a Mac but I really hate Apple. I didn't want to get a System76 laptop because I didn't want to futz with Linux. Enter Windows 8/10. I'd say Windows is getting to the point where Apple was a few years ago which is, you turn it on and it just works. I would say that statement only works for their hardware (i.e. the Surface line) but still, I believe the time has arrived.
As a web developer who hasn't touched .NET ever (nor do I plan to) I can't say how the back end of this affects Microsoft as a company but I think it was the inevitable conclusion they were going to arrive at.