5 ms·

Remarkably little has changed in Windows programming in 17 years.

by thrower123 5y ago

vsareto 5y ago
Well sure, we mostly fucked off to building websites and APIs
- n8cpdx 5y ago
  Same could be said for Mac or Linux development, but those ecosystems have continued to evolve, and the modern approaches to things can generally be taken seriously (unlike WinRT/UWP/WinUI2/WinUI3). It’s worth meditating on how thoroughly Microsoft failed to keep their stack modern. I think it’s much easier/faster/cheaper to create a great product using web tech these days than Windows, and that’s 100% on Microsoft.
  - ripley12 5y ago
    Agreed. It's not for lack of investment either; they invested staggering amounts of engineering time in WinRT and UWP and they actually built some cool stuff. But, well... it certainly didn't help that they made it so difficult to adopt the new technologies. Project Reunion/WASDK makes it seems like they've learned that lesson and are trying to salvage what they can - but it's much too little and much too late.
  - tailspin2019 5y ago
    Their cloud “stack” is pretty modern. I thats clearly where a lot of their effort has gone. And not to be too “fanboy” about it, .NET 6 is superb (for web dev at least). I think it’s worth giving MS some credit for what they’ve achieved there. Like it or not, Azure is impressive. But I agree with you with regards to the traditional Windows stack. It’s not in a good state at all. I rarely use Windows any more, at least where I can help it. And I’ve been an MS orientated developer (starting with VB/ASP) my whole career. At this stage I’d be very happy to never touch Windows again unless they make a very sharp course correction in the next year or two! (And to the point of the article, I’ve switched from a career-long use of Visual Studio on Windows to Rider on the Mac and I’ll hopefully never go back!)
alkonaut 5y ago
I can relate, I started writing Windows software professionally 17 years ago. Installing VS from MSDN dvds. that has changed. The development process has changed a bit too, but like any other desktop or systems programming it’s mostly the same. I like that.

Remarkably little has changed in Windows programming in 17 years.

vsareto 5y ago

Well sure, we mostly fucked off to building websites and APIs

n8cpdx 5y ago
Same could be said for Mac or Linux development, but those ecosystems have continued to evolve, and the modern approaches to things can generally be taken seriously (unlike WinRT/UWP/WinUI2/WinUI3). It’s worth meditating on how thoroughly Microsoft failed to keep their stack modern. I think it’s much easier/faster/cheaper to create a great product using web tech these days than Windows, and that’s 100% on Microsoft.
- ripley12 5y ago
  Agreed. It's not for lack of investment either; they invested staggering amounts of engineering time in WinRT and UWP and they actually built some cool stuff. But, well... it certainly didn't help that they made it so difficult to adopt the new technologies. Project Reunion/WASDK makes it seems like they've learned that lesson and are trying to salvage what they can - but it's much too little and much too late.
- tailspin2019 5y ago
  Their cloud “stack” is pretty modern. I thats clearly where a lot of their effort has gone. And not to be too “fanboy” about it, .NET 6 is superb (for web dev at least). I think it’s worth giving MS some credit for what they’ve achieved there. Like it or not, Azure is impressive. But I agree with you with regards to the traditional Windows stack. It’s not in a good state at all. I rarely use Windows any more, at least where I can help it. And I’ve been an MS orientated developer (starting with VB/ASP) my whole career. At this stage I’d be very happy to never touch Windows again unless they make a very sharp course correction in the next year or two! (And to the point of the article, I’ve switched from a career-long use of Visual Studio on Windows to Rider on the Mac and I’ll hopefully never go back!)

alkonaut 5y ago

I can relate, I started writing Windows software professionally 17 years ago. Installing VS from MSDN dvds. that has changed. The development process has changed a bit too, but like any other desktop or systems programming it’s mostly the same. I like that.