Metallic spintronics, the control of electrical signals through the flow of spin-polarized current, has progressed from a research discovery in 1988 to a key information technology and commercial success. Almost every computer now contains at least one spintronic device - such as the read head for a hard disk drive. Encouraged by this success researchers have explored other material systems, especially those of semiconductors. New possibilities available from semiconductor spintronics include high-speed coupling of spin dynamics to light (optospintronics), nonlinear transport and gain (spin transistors), exceptionally long spin coherence times, and electrical control of ferromagnetism. Progress in these areas has been rapid, and has led to new perspectives on the optical and electrical manipulation or detection of information stored in magnetic systems. Quick summary examples of such new physical and material functionality within semiconductors will be shown. Semiconductor spintronics, however, cannot do without metallic magnetism, for metals provide an exceptional combination of high conductivity and high Curie temperatures. New spintronic devices probably will depend on hybrid structures, where each component is chosen for optimal properties from metallic, inorganic semiconducting, and organic semiconducting materials.