3 ms·

I own one PC for media (win7). Wife, kids and I use mac laptops. Wife has iPhone and I use a Galaxy Note 3. I say that to say this; I am no luddite. I've been

I own one PC for media (win7). Wife, kids and I use mac laptops. Wife has iPhone and I use a Galaxy Note 3. I say that to say this; I am no luddite. I've been shopping for a Win8.1 tablet to replace the Google I/O Samsung tablet and perhaps maybe my mbp. Win8.1 tablets are compelling due to the full blown desktop environment. However, the MS dev ecosystem is a bit daunting as the lifecycle or shelf life of their tech is never really known (Silverlight comes to mind here). I work as a Firefighter (day job) and our municipality are solidly MS integrated. This doesn't look it will change in the short to near term as city IT is steadfast MS. You can byod to work at the station...however, we have two laptops on every engine and ladder apparatus. The tools we use for EMS calls are, quite frankly, complete shit. Web apps seem like a logical solution until you see how they are used in the field... latency, network i/o and the choice for browsers are limited among many/varied issues (hipaa, etc). All that to say, I believe in Scott Guthrie. I follow him on Twitter and he seems like a logical and candid MS employee from what I've read on his blog over the years. The changes that I've seen in MS recently give me a bit of confidence to test the native development side and perhaps fix our shit software.

rbanffy 13y ago
> a logical and candid MS employee Richard Feynman's quote comes to mind. "For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled."
alykhalid 13y ago
>However, the MS dev ecosystem is a bit daunting as the lifecycle or shelf life of their tech is never really known (Silverlight comes to mind here) Although silverlight is not actively being developed anymore it will be supported for a considerable period of time [1]. If you have invested time to develop/learn Silverlight applications, your time was not wasted. The underlying technology (XAML) is also used for desktop (WPF), metro (windows store app) and windows phone 8 applications. Disclaimer: My first language is not english. 1. http://support.microsoft.com/lifecycle/default.aspx?LN=en-us&x=8&y=11&c2=12905 http://support.microsoft.com/lifecycle/default.aspx?LN=en-us...
- seanmcdirmid 13y ago
  You'll have to rip WPF from my cold dead hands. Silver light and WinRT are just poor imitations that look similar but are missing way too many features that I use dally.
  - ct 13y ago
    Totally agree WPF is awesome. And WinRT/Silverlight don't hold a candle to it. Only thing is WPF performance and verboseness could be better.
    - seanmcdirmid 13y ago
      I use WPF at a low level (no framework components beyond Canvas) in pure C# (no icky XAML); which is probably why WinRT/Silverlight are so unappealing. WPF works well for me but eventually I'll have move onto Direct2D and DirectWrite I guess, but I'll have to use a C# wrapper.

rbanffy 13y ago

> a logical and candid MS employee Richard Feynman's quote comes to mind. "For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled."

alykhalid 13y ago

>However, the MS dev ecosystem is a bit daunting as the lifecycle or shelf life of their tech is never really known (Silverlight comes to mind here) Although silverlight is not actively being developed anymore it will be supported for a considerable period of time [1]. If you have invested time to develop/learn Silverlight applications, your time was not wasted. The underlying technology (XAML) is also used for desktop (WPF), metro (windows store app) and windows phone 8 applications. Disclaimer: My first language is not english. 1. http://support.microsoft.com/lifecycle/default.aspx?LN=en-us&x=8&y=11&c2=12905 http://support.microsoft.com/lifecycle/default.aspx?LN=en-us...

seanmcdirmid 13y ago
You'll have to rip WPF from my cold dead hands. Silver light and WinRT are just poor imitations that look similar but are missing way too many features that I use dally.
- ct 13y ago
  Totally agree WPF is awesome. And WinRT/Silverlight don't hold a candle to it. Only thing is WPF performance and verboseness could be better.
  - seanmcdirmid 13y ago
    I use WPF at a low level (no framework components beyond Canvas) in pure C# (no icky XAML); which is probably why WinRT/Silverlight are so unappealing. WPF works well for me but eventually I'll have move onto Direct2D and DirectWrite I guess, but I'll have to use a C# wrapper.