Is Angularjs future-proof?

Question

Angularjs is a very nice and powerfull framework, but is it future-proof?

• Can we be sure that it will be a good choice for web applications in an enterprise context for up to 5-10 years? edit: yes, almost no technology will last that long. But people have to be trained and code has to be maintained and developed further. If we were looking back in 5 years and say "this was a terrible choice, and we should have known because of xy" that would be bad.
• Activity on Stackoverflow and Google Trends imply that the community is very active and that many people are interested in the technology right now, but what are good arguments to convince someone that the framework is not just a current hype? edit: I am looking for arguments that could convince somewhat conservative decision-makers who understandably do not want to change the technology stack all the time. Up to now they use mostly JSF.

Arguments (I'll add yours):

• Preparation for future standards:
  • "They’re making the features available right now, but putting the framework (and by extension, the apps built using the framework) in a position where transitioning to the standard HTML5 solution will be easy when that solution becomes widely available. In short, you get to use soon-to-be-standard HTML5 features now, and it will be easy to convert your app to use HTML5 standards later. Neat!" (http://www.dan-menard.com/2012/07/10/things-that-are-awesome-about-angularjs/)
  • "The way you write and use reusable components in AngularJS looks and feels a whole lot like how you’ll write and use web components in a couple of years" (http://www.dan-menard.com/2012/07/10/things-that-are-awesome-about-angularjs/). One more link backing this: http://www.2ality.com/2013/05/web-components-angular-ember.html
• The project is funded and used (Youtube for PS3, DoubleClick) by a large company (Google)
  • Rebuilding DoubleClick: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJoAnVRIVQo

Some pro-Angular links that for the most part talk about features:

• http://blog.revolunet.com/blog/2013/06/01/starting-with-angularjs/
• http://stoic.cloud.answerhub.com/questions/1832/why-choose-angularjs.html
• http://stevetaylor.quora.com/Goodbye-JSF-PrimeFaces-Hello-AngularJS-Zurb-Foundation
• http://oscarvillarreal.com/2013/05/07/5-reasons-to-use-angularjs-in-the-corporate-app-world/

Answer 1

Nothing is future proof, if one were to look far enough into the future (with the possible exception of COBOL which we'll never be fully rid of). Nothing was futureproof before it was. Around 1997, when I first started learning PHP (then called FI), who would have thought that it would have become a platform for Facebook?

Big players that adopt a framework is what makes it future-resistant. By their sheer mass and scope, they support and push a framework into sustainable maintenance and feature development.

Having a large pool of small players using the framework is what makes big players consider the option (or having a small player explode in size). It seems to me that this is where Angular is right now.

So, do you bet your career on a technology at this level? That's a personal choice.

Some questions I ask myself when choosing a new tech are:

• Will it solve problems for you, and make you a superstar in your organization?
• Will you be able to find and/or train folks, when your mounting success requires you to staff up?
• Is your project and/or company currently small enough to fly under the radar of "standards compliance"?