Discussions

left the door open for WinDiv to dominate DevDiv?

left the door open for WinDiv to perform suicide?

8 minutes ago, fanbaby wrote

@Bass: hahaha. where else can you meet developers so out of touch. Developing desktop apps today?? Who are your customers, and why are they accepting this? On second thought i'm cool with it. It seems you and your customers deserve each other.

But please no more FUD, you don't want your children learning XAML instead of HTML, do you?

Can I have an answer to this please as it is the children enjoying the desktop and the world of apps?

Hopefully they exist to please their customers, rather than dictate what is good or not. Android, iPhone, iPad, IPod , iTunes and Windows (i.e desktop applications) make people spend their hard earned money and create the biggest technology industries.

People are not exited about booking trains or checking their bank account which the web does brilliantly, it is the desktop they find immersive.

2 minutes ago, Bass wrote

Standard Disclaimer: The opinions of people on Channel 9 do not remotely match the opinions of the larger technology industry.

Hopefully they exist to please their customers, rather than dictate what is good or not. Android, iPhone, iPad, IPod , iTunes and Windows (i.e desktop applications) make people spend their hard earned money and create the biggest technology industries.

People are not exited about booking trains or checking their bank account which the web does brilliantly, it is the desktop they find immersive.

1 hour ago, evildictait​or wrote

*snip*

Desktop developers on the outskirts aren't "jumping ship" to the web because the web is shiny and beautiful and does everything they want it to. They're standing on their aircraft carrier laughing at your dingy made of logs tied together with some string you found on a beach.

This may seem like a dig, but it is true. I write software using the complete stack, from dinky Intranets, to Websites to middle-ware and so on. A lot of programmers today developing software commercially have to know and use both.

Some guys just prefer CSS and JavaScript, compared to Winforms or XAML, but most end users will tell you the prefer a desktop app to an HTML site, especially if you need to use it every day

@Sven Groot: Mvc is brilliant, coming from WPF and MVVM it is a real departure from classic webforms. I'm not the strongest JQuery developer, and it has sometimes been frustrating when you want to do advanced stuff, as MVC 2 and 1 examples don't work, but all in all is it web programming done right.

I will never write another webforms website again....evah!

20 minutes ago, Ian2 wrote

@vesuvius:Surely the point is that if a platform is getting busier then it follows that it is being used more (which probably equates to it being more successful).

To be expected with the pick-up in advertising, if your hits are not converting to sales st this time, then that is an issue.

I want the platform to succeed, sometimes you see what you want to see.

3 hours ago, Ian2 wrote

Figures that I get for my own apps also bode well with a significant surge in downloads over the last couple of months:

http://websurfaces.co.uk/2013/04/08/windows-store-download-stats/

Have you made any money? It is a bit like having a busy day in a shop where no-one buys anything, I would hide the fact that so many visits failed to convert into a sale, just like loads of hits on your blog don't necessarily means people are really interested, it is all about "Likes", "Votes" and "Sales"

@DeathByVisualStudio: No having a brilliant facebook application, loses you sales in mobile shops as most smartphone users are stuck to their social networking activities, since Microsoft have a 1% stake in Facebook, I would have spent a million on a Facebook app, rather than tens of millions in advertising.

3 hours ago, felix9 wrote

And Windows Phone is 'the five percent' now

http://wmpoweruser.com/full-kantar-numbers-for-march-2013-shows-steady-windows-phone-progress-reaches-highest-sales-share-figure-so-far/

I'm not so sure, Windows Phone grew the least in the last quarter. With Android selling 64% of all smartphones in the world, I think it is time Microsoft concentrated on popularity, rather than the Apple money making model. There was a time when Windows ran on any PC, even the young or those on tight budgets could be part of the software revolution.

We used to laugh at Linux fanbois here on Channel 9, but the Linux kernel is probably running on more devices than Windows PC's, if it isn't already, it is only just a matter of time.

I am not as obsequious as some that never post anything even mildly negative about Microsoft, having developed for iOS and Android, it is a no-brainer that Microsoft are the best tools, I just hope someone at the top changes things around by telling the accountants to stick their business models in the rubbish bin.

4 minutes ago, kettch wrote

@vesuvius: A few months ago we started a project where the project manager told the customer that he wasn't going to devote a single development hour to the project until the information gathering, business analysis, and other planning was all complete. This was something very new for our organization. After much wailing and gnashing of teeth the customer relented, and they did 4 months of business analysis, gathering specs and all of the stuff you wish you could do all the time. When the development package was handed off to the developers, we were in awe. It was a complete departure from previous projects. So far it's been quite fun. We never have to ask questions, it's all in the documents. Plus, it looks like we're beating our time estimates.

4 months planning is just too long for most projects that fail, so you are writing of the essential practices that contribute to less stress all round and better chances of success.

Be very careful though, sticking to documents that were written 4 - 6 months ago means that you may finish the project and when the project fails, you can say you did what was written down, but supplied the customer with a product that does not suit their needs.

Be prepared to have to do a big rewrite midway, because of a subtle but essential detail that was misinterpreted or the customer finding out that what they said they wanted wasn't exactly what they wanted. It is the ability to accommodate this type of change in well managed projects which results in a successful project, rather than wasting time and money blaming the person that gathered the requirements or the customer.