[LINK] Windows developers begin slow defection to

[Frank O'Connor]

Mmmm ...

I don't think many hard-core platform developers and committed MS 
software architects will switch (hey there's too much moolah to be 
made), but the legions of small VB developers and in-house enterprise 
VB users are getting a tad miffed. Mainly because the easy to use IDE 
of the past (VB6 or Visual Studio before 2003) has pretty much 
disappeared, and they don't like the complexity and added workload of 
its replacement - especially for the tasks they used to use it for - 
quick hacks, small applications, front ends for MS databases (Access 
and SQL Server) etc etc.

I think the reasons are many ... but include:

1. MS doesn't support 'classical' Visual Basic anymore. VB6 support 
went out the door a few months back.

2. Ditto for COM (and COM+) It's all .NET now.

3. The current version of Visual Studio ain't a 'plug and play' puppy 
like in the past - still has a nice GUI, but it's an order of 
magnitude more complex.

4. .NET is in many ways as complex as JAVA ... and the vast majority 
of MS developers were COM bunnies from way back. To build and 
application they just did the GUI, embedded the program logic and 
controls in it, and used the necessary networking libraries if they 
were networking it. Many never had to write serious code in their 
lives ... spent all their time in Winforms or other GUI tools.

5. Visual Basic.NET is in many ways as complex a language as C++ - 
contaisn about 78 new operands and functions over the old VB, has a 
heap more API and functional settings, and now incurs a development 
process and method a lot more like that which hard coders have 
utilised in the past.

6. If you're developing for .NET you're probably better off using C# 
(think JAVA on a diet) ... but any way you look at it programming for 
net requires as much effort, dedication and skill as doing JAVA or 
Object C.  MS still takes a lot of the effort out of it by providing 
huge multi-purpose libraries (for any number of common application 
and enterprise functions) but there is no way it is as 'user 
friendly' as the old Visual Basic.

7. MS changed many of the 'rules' with Vista (and .NET), and a lot of 
developers didn't like it.

						Regards,

At 10:01 PM +1000 9/7/07, Antony Barry wrote:
>Windows developers begin slow defection to Linux
>Two years ago, the number of developers writing applications for the 
>Microsoft Windows platform fell, while the opposite was true for 
>Linux -- this has now become a trend.
>
><http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/software/soa/Windows-developers-begin-slow-defection-to-Linux/0,130061733,339279528,00.htm>
>
>phone : 02 6241 7659 | mailto:me at Tony-Barry.emu.id.au
>mobile: 04 1242 0397 | mailto:tony.barry at alianet.alia.org.au
>http://tony-barry.emu.id.au
>
>
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