6 hours ago, kettch wrote

@Bass: Oh, you will welcome them. Google Glass, from the instant I first saw it has always reminded me of this:

Ha Ha!  Yeah, that probably comes bundled.

It wouldn't be too unthinkable to expect new phone and Xbox hardware showing off APIs that are better integrated with W8 (i.e. more merging together of the platforms).

If I want to go to an event like this, it is on my vacation time and on my dime.  Thank goodness for the Ch9 coverage of these events.

I don't expect there will be much swag this year anyway.  Probably just a flash drive with Windows Blue on it.

2 hours ago, ZippyV wrote

*snip*

Yes, I think WinRT will be extended to desktop applications. I believe Microsoft focused on Metro apps first for the Win8 release because it was the most urgent one (tablets) while desktop apps already have an existing ecosystem. Now the focus is on bringing WinRT to the desktop so that these new apps can be integrated with the App store and communicate with other WinRT/Metro apps.

I agree.  It took a huge effort, and all available resources, just to get Win8 and related products out the door.  They obviously chose to defer desktop updates to get the new products out the door, as would anybody.  I expect it was in the plan all along that the next wave would move some attention back to the desktop.  WinRT (or some variant of it) will be extended to bring the same programming models and APIs to the desktop.  XAML (and HTML) clearly will play the same role there.  .NET is no different than it was other than targeting WinRT now.  It only matters to the compiler.  Write in a .NET language or a native language as you wish, it doesn't matter.  I think (hope) that the next releases will show a lot of unification and cleaning up of the rough spots.

The big problem has been a string of developer-relations disasters.  So, they wanted to keep the details of Win8 a secret -- fine.  But a series of poorly worded statements, followed by deafening silence did a lot of damage with developers.  Products that people were deeply invested in have been orphaned without any real direction of where things are headed.  Old technologies still work, but for how long?  Microsoft used to be so good about developer/product roadmaps -- one of the best companies I have ever seen for laying out the plan for where things were going and when they would arrive.  We need that back.  A lot of confidence has been lost.  We all know how much harder it is to bring customers back after you have lost them.  MS needs to let the world in on the secret sooner than later, before programmers slip any further away.

Microsoft has always had the worst product naming of any company in the history of time.  Most of the products would be much better off to stick with the internal development names.

1 day ago, SteveRichter wrote

Where is the driverless forklift?

The driverless forklift very much does exist and has in some places for years.  (I know a guy who works on them,)  Fully automated picking is used in some places to great effect.  Amazon certainly could build such a system if they decided to do it.  The fact that they still use humans says that they have found that to be more efficient/cost effective.  For something on that scale, I imagine that it would be more efficient to let humans handle it.  Otherwise you would have to have a smart conveyor system that would make UPS look like grade school.

Of course, that is speaking generally.  Specifics of whatever technology you are using may influence your decision.

The concept of "superior" is a much more difficult, and subjective, concept.  It is also more important for the success of a UI than familiarity.

The issue raised by Dr. Herbie is discoverability.  People have to be able to figure out how to use your interface, and the majority of people are not going to go through tutorials and tips to figure them out, or memorize a bunch of shortcut keys.  If a user needs to phone a friend or Google to find out how to use your interface, you have a problem and an unhappy user.

(This is a general comment and makes no implications good or bad about Win 8 in particular.)

Visio has always been too expensive and too unknown.  Most people don't even know about it.  (I see a lot of people saying "what's Visio" as they struggle to draw block diagrams in Excel.)  It seems like MS is trying to make it go away.  I know the sales volumes are low, but it has no marketing or store presence, and many can't afford it if they can find it.

As for the passing it around part, technically you may loan it to someone else if you do not retain any other copies, according to the oreilly site.

The video also makes it apparent how dated the UNIX design is.  Many of the UNIX fundamentals (everything is a file stream, pipe all your data around between snippets of code, scripting everything together) made a lot of sense and solved a lot of problems in the environment of the late sixties -- when everything was text based and command driven, and all computer users were trained technical users.  Those concepts of computing don't fit well into modern computing -- GUIs, events, non-technical users, etc.  UNIX (and LINUX which followed the same model almost exactly) has tried to adapt by patching things on here and there, but that has produced a system that is still really suitable only to technical users that are largely working the same way they did three or four decades ago.  (I admit that I fall into that category at times.)  For the average user, it still ends up being clumsy and awkward.  Certainly Windows has its crusty corners too.

I guess a half century down the road it's time for someone to start with a clean sheet and build a modern OS.  Lots of people are throwing ideas around out there (like MSR).  We'll see if anyone is willing to really make the leap and build a product.  MS will probably just evolve Windows.  Linux (i.e. Linus) has little reason to start over.  Apple?  Who knows?  There aren't many little guys willing to compete with the big players anymore.  You invest a lot into a project and get sued or swallowed.

17 hours ago, Charles wrote

@ryanb: I'm not sure this is correct, actually, but I'll ask Herb...

C

You're right Charles.  I realize now that I was thinking about partial classes, not extension methods.  I retract my previous statement.  And I should have been more clear about all of this as things that MIGHT be coming in the standard at some point.  Never mind.  Nothing to see here.

EDIT -- Never mind -- I was thinking of partial classes, not extension methods...