Windows 8

Author: David Zimmer
Date: 02.21.12 - 6:24pm

just a quick post tonight.

So i have been going over the presentations at the Build 2011 conference where MS is describing in depth Windows 8 features. Its pretty interesting.

When .NET came out, I resented it, I was a jilted vb6 developer loosing my entire codebase for a java clone. It seemed like they were just hopping on the trendy bandwagon and chewing up hundreds of MB of disk space with their multiple versions of the bloated runtime. in reality they were looking 10+ years down the road, even if they still had some bugs to work out along the way. (I dont know if their future vision was apparent to everyone but me, or if they just never mentioned it because it was their business strategy and you tend not to inform people of that)

The metro interface is basically an smart phone OS model. The same way android and iOS are being used for tablets, MS is bringing the Windows phone 7 (and Microsoft Kin) interface to the desktop and stepping into the tablet space with a build that can run on ARM.

.NET is a strong cross processor glue that enables all the apps to transition regardless of processor. In all these years I never noticed them going for any other OS or processor, now with Windows Phone and Windows 8 its here.

The development tools for Windows phone 7 look pretty decent, except for the whole VS 2010 thing which by most accounts people hate. Havent played with the VS2011 that comes with the Win8 developer preview enough yet but I know they are headed in the right direction. It might take them awhile, but they are a leviathan. They have the horsepower and reserve to get it right and they will string it all together so that its efficient to develop in. Looking forward to it.

At the same time though, from what I have read, I am glad I didnt learn how to develop for Windows phone 6.5 (which they have totally changed around) and never had to stomach the WinME qualities of Vista.

I am not really a metro fanboy, but I do love multi-touch. Also the segregation of the apps and extra security will be a big step forward.

Anyway, I am glad the advancements are starting to gel and come together. Next 5 years are going to be interesting to watch.

Comments: (1)

On 10.18.17 - 5:40am Dave wrote:
So now we are another 5 years down the road.

MS failed. .NET is bullshit. They have abandoned windows phone 10. .NET has no use other than desktop business apps taking vb6s former spot but as a way more bloated and slower pile of poo. It was a HUGE resource drain on the company so they could have their own version of Java. Hubris is the word of the day. Same as Silverlight their now abandoned clone of flash.

To big, to much money, probably to much churn in managers and developers. Trying to ride a wave of whats cool or hot instead of focusing on what actually gets shit done and what is core.

MS has no loyalties and endlessly shifting infatuations. Developers have been the casualty.

I am glad I stuck with old, proven, and stable technologies. Stick with the lowest common denominator as possible for your dependencies is the only word of wisdom I have.

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