...but much less than the Windows API, which Joel Spolsky believes to be dead.

I tend to agree: his salary comparison ($130'000 for a COM programmer vs. $80'000 for a web applications programmer) is similar to the situation with COBOL: you can either make a pile of money on boring and outdated stuff, or decent money on fun and modern stuff. This seems to confirm that the Windows API is on its way out.

Recommended reading - via Gregor.