Was .NET All a Mistake?
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mikejuk writes "The recent unsettling behavior at Microsoft concerning .NET makes it a good time to re-evaluate what the technology is all about. It may have been good technology, but with the systems guys building Windows preferring to stick with C++, the outcome was inevitable. Because they failed to support its way of doing things, .NET has always been a second-class Windows citizen unable to make direct use of the Windows APIs — especially the latest. .NET started out as Microsoft's best challenge to Java but now you have to ask: what has the excursion into managed code brought the Microsoft programmer, and indeed what good has it done Microsoft? From where we are now, it begins to look very much like an unnecessary forced detour, and Windows programmers are going to be living with the mess for years to come."
What?! On the contrary: .NET is becoming relevant! (Score:5, Informative)
According to an Ars Technica [arstechnica.com] article, .NET will be first-class citizen in Windows 8.
Re:No? (Score:1, Informative)
Works pretty damn well for that.
Not by the time financial transaction software developers like Fidelity Information Services get a hold of it. How is running a daemon compiled together with it's monitor in a GUI-based .COM object even remotely "working pretty damn well"? Don't get me wrong, I've heard all the fairy tale applications for .NET, and sure it could have some uses.. But any .NET app I've ever seen has been a nightmare. Had to build server images with very specific versions of every single OS patch and interpretor, otherwise the thing went tits up... This is not what .NET was "supposed" to be about, but in the end it was utter crap.
Don't even get me started on MS Biztalk.... ::cringe::
Re:No? (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Just a bigger and better framework (Score:5, Informative)
The key is that Microsoft is porting Windows to ARM. if you built you app with .Net and MS doesn't screw things up you should have an app that works on the ARM version of Windows 8. If that happens, then for MS and developers the entire .Net experience has been a HUGE win. MS will have a Win 8 ARM with a huge supply of apps and developers and developers will have access to the tablet market without having to do much new.
Re:Was this article all a mistake? (Score:4, Informative)
Re:I definitely agree (Score:5, Informative)