6 ms·

The medical device is basically a WPF app. There are a lot of similar ones on the market. The whole effort got started during windows XP time and back then wind

The medical device is basically a WPF app. There are a lot of similar ones on the market. The whole effort got started during windows XP time and back then windows made sense. Now with windows 10 you spend a lot of effort locking down features you never wanted and are hard to get rid of. At this point I would much prefer to go iOS, web or Linux. They all have their downsides and upsides but windows is becoming pretty developer unfriendly. Just getting a quote for licenses is a six month ordeal with multiple meetings and contradictory information from MS. They make it hard to give them money.

duxup 7y ago
Ah, thank you. Interesting, yeah I would think a chrome device, or android, iOS, some sort of base level secure focused linux might be a better place. Especially not 'home' flavors windows. I know some folks working with some medical stuff and they've all since moved off of windows onto Linux, not an easy move, but windows just didn't make sense as their software moved into more of an "embedded" (not sure if anyone uses that term anymore) type setup than a desktop connected to a machine like it used to be.
- Silhouette 7y ago
  "embedded" (not sure if anyone uses that term anymore) They certainly do. There's an entire industry that builds control software for network-connected devices. These days you probably run an embedded web server and/or provide a network-accessible control protocol over something like TCP or UDP with separate software/app that runs locally on the user's device. Then on the back end you link to whatever functionality the device has rather than just storing everything in a database as a typical CRUD application would. There's a wide range of tools available for things like putting together a minimal Linux base and cross-compiling your code as well.
  - maxxxxx 7y ago
    “There's a wide range of tools available for things like putting together a minimal Linux base and cross-compiling your code as well.” That’s what I would do now. Much easier to build up a device from components than trimming down Windows 10.
BuckRogers 7y ago
I work on a similar project but WinForms, but not as mission critical as a hospital setting. I'm currently decoupling UI from application logic as much as possible, and will move from .Net Framework to .Net Core 3.0 when it launches this year. At that point, I'll begin replacing WinForms with client-side Blazor. When there's just one current version of .Net again with .Net 5's release in 2020, those transitions will be seamless since I'll already be on .Net Core 3.0. Full-stack C# which grants me easy flexibility on what I want to happen client vs server-side, with near-native performance. I can drop a Safari shortcut on home screens for iOS, and an Edge link on desktops for Windows. If you wanted some sort of iOS specific behavior that you can only access from there, the application could be wrapped in a webview. It'll also be seamless to package it as an Electron app for Ubuntu support. I don't intend to go with Electron or put it in a native iOS app, just browser links for whatever platform they want to use, but there's plenty of flexibility. This is a webapp-done-right in my opinion and really a PWA. Perhaps the path I've set out for myself would work for you. The application I work on is critical to the daily functions of a large business, but not "medical grade", so I may be able to work on the knife's edge a bit more.
- maxxxxx 7y ago
  I have a similar plan but progress is slow in medical devices and our execs tend to believe salespeople more than our engineers so it will take a while to convince people to invest in a multi-people multi-year effort.

duxup 7y ago

Ah, thank you. Interesting, yeah I would think a chrome device, or android, iOS, some sort of base level secure focused linux might be a better place. Especially not 'home' flavors windows. I know some folks working with some medical stuff and they've all since moved off of windows onto Linux, not an easy move, but windows just didn't make sense as their software moved into more of an "embedded" (not sure if anyone uses that term anymore) type setup than a desktop connected to a machine like it used to be.

Silhouette 7y ago
"embedded" (not sure if anyone uses that term anymore) They certainly do. There's an entire industry that builds control software for network-connected devices. These days you probably run an embedded web server and/or provide a network-accessible control protocol over something like TCP or UDP with separate software/app that runs locally on the user's device. Then on the back end you link to whatever functionality the device has rather than just storing everything in a database as a typical CRUD application would. There's a wide range of tools available for things like putting together a minimal Linux base and cross-compiling your code as well.
- maxxxxx 7y ago
  “There's a wide range of tools available for things like putting together a minimal Linux base and cross-compiling your code as well.” That’s what I would do now. Much easier to build up a device from components than trimming down Windows 10.

BuckRogers 7y ago

I work on a similar project but WinForms, but not as mission critical as a hospital setting. I'm currently decoupling UI from application logic as much as possible, and will move from .Net Framework to .Net Core 3.0 when it launches this year. At that point, I'll begin replacing WinForms with client-side Blazor. When there's just one current version of .Net again with .Net 5's release in 2020, those transitions will be seamless since I'll already be on .Net Core 3.0. Full-stack C# which grants me easy flexibility on what I want to happen client vs server-side, with near-native performance. I can drop a Safari shortcut on home screens for iOS, and an Edge link on desktops for Windows. If you wanted some sort of iOS specific behavior that you can only access from there, the application could be wrapped in a webview. It'll also be seamless to package it as an Electron app for Ubuntu support. I don't intend to go with Electron or put it in a native iOS app, just browser links for whatever platform they want to use, but there's plenty of flexibility. This is a webapp-done-right in my opinion and really a PWA. Perhaps the path I've set out for myself would work for you. The application I work on is critical to the daily functions of a large business, but not "medical grade", so I may be able to work on the knife's edge a bit more.

maxxxxx 7y ago
I have a similar plan but progress is slow in medical devices and our execs tend to believe salespeople more than our engineers so it will take a while to convince people to invest in a multi-people multi-year effort.