I am planning on using $.tmpl() for a rather large enterprise application. It appears that it is now owned by the JQuery UI team and new development and support is being put on hold. Is this true?
Is it okay to start using the jquery template mechanism extensively?
No.
http://www.borismoore.com/2011/10/jquery-templates-and-jsviews-roadmap.html
That said, I’ve used it pretty extensively as it exists with no problems.