4 ms·

Biggest part of announcement was the HTML+JS part. Let that sink in- HTML+JS is now the premier way to write Windows apps. Who would have thought this day woul

by sriramk 15y ago

Biggest part of announcement was the HTML+JS part. Let that sink in- HTML+JS is now the premier way to write Windows apps. Who would have thought this day would come?

teilo 15y ago
Don't for a minute think this means that this means platform-neutral apps. HTML+JS calling into Windows APIs, is more likely what this is, rendering rich widgets ala ASP.NET controls. I'm willing to bet money on it. And at that point, who cares? Different development toolset. Same lock-in.
- blntechie 15y ago
  I'm sure they're not going to use ASP.NET controls. If WebOS is universally accepted as developer friendly I don't see why Windows which is planning for a similar toolkit will not be considered so. And let me know when the day arrives when you can develop and run platform-neutral apps in Mac,iOS or in fact Linux. Don't be unreasonable. Thanks.
  - bonch 15y ago
    Apple actually tried to introduce HTML5 as the development platform for the iPhone, and developers didn't want it.
    - tomlin 15y ago
      Not quite. Safari for iOS is crippled when compared to the desktop versions. You have to write a native app over a web app if you want to allow the user to upload images or video, for example.
    - mullr 15y ago
      The world was pretty significantly different at that time: in 2007, we hadn't even seen 280slides yet. It wasn't obvious to everybody that you could write really great javascript-based webapps. Nobody was even calling it html5 at the time.
  - teilo 15y ago
    Nothing I wrote is unreasonable. The only real advantage of HTML5 on the desktop is that it has a shallow learning curve vs., say, iOS. I didn't say it wouldn't be developer friendly. I'm saying that it really makes no difference that they are using HTML+JS if, like WebOS, they have tight coupling to the native OS API. Also, I didn't say they would use ASP.NET controls, but something similar - rich controls backed specifically by the OS. My point stands: Different developer toolset - same vendor lock-in.
  - Uhhrrr 15y ago
    Qt, GTK, Tcl/Tk - for Tcl/Tk that day is at least thirteen years ago. For Java that day is sixteen years ago.
    - eli_s 15y ago
      sure... if you want an equally shitty experience across all platforms
      - ori_b 15y ago
        And... web apps aren't?
- nextparadigms 15y ago
  I agree. They didn't tout "native HTML5 is coming to IE10" for nothing a few months ago.
  - kenjackson 15y ago
    Intersting... native HTML5 does make a LOT more sense in this context.
- mrspandex 15y ago
  No jQuery for desktop JS?
27182818284 15y ago
Dashboard (HTML & JS) for OS X never really caught on. I wonder if this will do better.
- josephcooney 15y ago
  Nor did sidebar widgets for Vista/Win7 (also HTML + JS).
kenjackson 15y ago
I agree. Why didn't ppl drill on this (and impact on Silverlight) in Q&A rather than meaningless questions like is this a skin?
- desigooner 15y ago
  Pretty sure that was Joshua Topolsky. While being a self-proclaimed fan of WebOS, he's been ranting about Windows a lot lately in his podcasts at thisismynext.
Apocryphon 15y ago
Okay, okay, okay. Forget rumors that Microsoft is going to buy Nokia or RIM. Looks like MS is going to buy Palm from HP.
bonch 15y ago
Microsoft's API churn must be disconcerting for developers trying to figure out what to standardize on going forward. This is yet another API for writing Windows apps. WPF? Silverlight? HTML5? I would always have a fear that something else would come along and supplant the API I was working with.
- blntechie 15y ago
  I'm guessing bringing HTML5 support for their APIs is only going to bring more developers to their platform. I may be proven wrong as time goes.
  - trustfundbaby 15y ago
    Its a tangential example to be sure, but it seems to have worked out really really well for Google Chrome and their extensions. I haven't been this excited about a windows release in a long long while ... I hope Microsoft doesn't botch this
    - william42 15y ago
      I wouldn't say it's a tangential example as much as that Chrome extensions have a very good reason to be written in JavaScript--they're effectively contributions to the JavaScript of the page, and use the same DOM. It remains to be seen if the other benefits of JavaScript carry over to Windows 8 enough that it's worth using it to code desktop apps. As for botching it, I suspect that Windows 8 will be a not-very-good «experimental» thing like Vista and Windows 9 will be what Windows 8 should have been in the first place.
- maxxxxx 15y ago
  Yeah. It has been a mess for a long time. In the end, though, C/C++ is still the main API and it will probably stay like that.
teyc 15y ago
Absolutely. I hope they have a tooling story around HTML5. I wonder if that chart in the demo was done in canvas or photoshop.

by sriramk 15y ago

Biggest part of announcement was the HTML+JS part. Let that sink in- HTML+JS is now the premier way to write Windows apps. Who would have thought this day would come?

teilo 15y ago

Don't for a minute think this means that this means platform-neutral apps. HTML+JS calling into Windows APIs, is more likely what this is, rendering rich widgets ala ASP.NET controls. I'm willing to bet money on it. And at that point, who cares? Different development toolset. Same lock-in.

blntechie 15y ago
I'm sure they're not going to use ASP.NET controls. If WebOS is universally accepted as developer friendly I don't see why Windows which is planning for a similar toolkit will not be considered so. And let me know when the day arrives when you can develop and run platform-neutral apps in Mac,iOS or in fact Linux. Don't be unreasonable. Thanks.
- bonch 15y ago
  Apple actually tried to introduce HTML5 as the development platform for the iPhone, and developers didn't want it.
  - tomlin 15y ago
    Not quite. Safari for iOS is crippled when compared to the desktop versions. You have to write a native app over a web app if you want to allow the user to upload images or video, for example.
  - mullr 15y ago
    The world was pretty significantly different at that time: in 2007, we hadn't even seen 280slides yet. It wasn't obvious to everybody that you could write really great javascript-based webapps. Nobody was even calling it html5 at the time.
- teilo 15y ago
  Nothing I wrote is unreasonable. The only real advantage of HTML5 on the desktop is that it has a shallow learning curve vs., say, iOS. I didn't say it wouldn't be developer friendly. I'm saying that it really makes no difference that they are using HTML+JS if, like WebOS, they have tight coupling to the native OS API. Also, I didn't say they would use ASP.NET controls, but something similar - rich controls backed specifically by the OS. My point stands: Different developer toolset - same vendor lock-in.
- Uhhrrr 15y ago
  Qt, GTK, Tcl/Tk - for Tcl/Tk that day is at least thirteen years ago. For Java that day is sixteen years ago.
  - eli_s 15y ago
    sure... if you want an equally shitty experience across all platforms
    - ori_b 15y ago
      And... web apps aren't?
nextparadigms 15y ago
I agree. They didn't tout "native HTML5 is coming to IE10" for nothing a few months ago.
- kenjackson 15y ago
  Intersting... native HTML5 does make a LOT more sense in this context.
mrspandex 15y ago
No jQuery for desktop JS?

27182818284 15y ago

Dashboard (HTML & JS) for OS X never really caught on. I wonder if this will do better.

josephcooney 15y ago
Nor did sidebar widgets for Vista/Win7 (also HTML + JS).

kenjackson 15y ago

I agree. Why didn't ppl drill on this (and impact on Silverlight) in Q&A rather than meaningless questions like is this a skin?

desigooner 15y ago
Pretty sure that was Joshua Topolsky. While being a self-proclaimed fan of WebOS, he's been ranting about Windows a lot lately in his podcasts at thisismynext.

Apocryphon 15y ago

Okay, okay, okay. Forget rumors that Microsoft is going to buy Nokia or RIM. Looks like MS is going to buy Palm from HP.

bonch 15y ago

Microsoft's API churn must be disconcerting for developers trying to figure out what to standardize on going forward. This is yet another API for writing Windows apps. WPF? Silverlight? HTML5? I would always have a fear that something else would come along and supplant the API I was working with.

blntechie 15y ago
I'm guessing bringing HTML5 support for their APIs is only going to bring more developers to their platform. I may be proven wrong as time goes.
- trustfundbaby 15y ago
  Its a tangential example to be sure, but it seems to have worked out really really well for Google Chrome and their extensions. I haven't been this excited about a windows release in a long long while ... I hope Microsoft doesn't botch this
  - william42 15y ago
    I wouldn't say it's a tangential example as much as that Chrome extensions have a very good reason to be written in JavaScript--they're effectively contributions to the JavaScript of the page, and use the same DOM. It remains to be seen if the other benefits of JavaScript carry over to Windows 8 enough that it's worth using it to code desktop apps. As for botching it, I suspect that Windows 8 will be a not-very-good «experimental» thing like Vista and Windows 9 will be what Windows 8 should have been in the first place.
maxxxxx 15y ago
Yeah. It has been a mess for a long time. In the end, though, C/C++ is still the main API and it will probably stay like that.

teyc 15y ago

Absolutely. I hope they have a tooling story around HTML5. I wonder if that chart in the demo was done in canvas or photoshop.