Part 1: Post-Build questions…
So the questions post Build I seem to get asked the most by .Net programmers are as follows:
- Why bother to build Windows Apps in higher level languages now and what’s the value in even doing a full Windows platform app if Windows Metro Apps can be outsourced to cheap labor since they are now HTML 5/JavaScript.. What is my value as a .Net programmer over an HTML 5 Web developer now..
- Didn’t Microsoft throw me under a bus because now my value versus an HTML /JavaScript programmer really isn’t there now.. Why bother with C# or C++
- My IT manager is making all of us .NET programmers learn web programming and get away from .NET projects and I am having to learn how to package an HTML5/JS app for Google’s Web Apps now as well as Microsoft’s new Windows 8, though he’s not even sure we’ll continue to do Windows due to it’s lacking market share behind Google and Apple even a year after Windows Phone 7.
- I am a C# .NET or and C++ developer. How do I compete with a kid in some third world country who will quote and do an HTML/JS app for windows cheaper than I can do my .NET version of the app.. Should I be learning Google Chrome app development or iOS because Apple and Google have a bigger mobile market share ?
- Why does Blend for HTML 5 only support Photoshop import ? Where is the resolution independence I have come to expect and canvas support in XAML.. (It may be coming, with SVG and CANVAS, time will tell) and where is web drag and drop data binding and sample XML data sources ?
- My school just adopted Google Apps and is starting to teach Chrome development and strict web only.. Microsoft is being cut out yet again..
So the question that Microsoft isn't bothering to answer with this is what good are .NET programmers in a world where a lower level scripting unstructured (compared to C and others) language like JavaScript is taking center stage as the NEW programming language for Windows Apps.
Sure the higher level languages are still there, but the phone and tablet numbers put Microsoft in third or fourth place behind Apple iOS and Google and Apple ahead on these numbers and not slowing down, will people bother to do more than write an HTML 5/JavaScript adaption (if they even do that) of their products as a Windows App anymore ?
Quote anonymous “Why even package this just let it run in the browser”. In the new market where outsourcing HTML/JavaScript is cheap to do, will anyone bother making a "REAL (non HTML/JS)" WinRT app anymore ?? Why would anyone pay the extra money to do a more custom more powerful Windows App (and is it really more powerful now or just me too ?)
Many .NET developers feel Microsoft threw out the baby with the bath with WinRT. Not because WinRT isn’t innovative and a great move forward at the API level, but when you can package HTML and JavaScript as a "Windows App" who will bother to do anything else especially in a higher level language. What advantages are there ?
Has Microsoft really protected it's core .NET programmers livelihoods with the new version or have they undercut their developers to favor cheap HTML5/JavaScript outsourcing of code and design ? Only time will tell.. Not looking good that Windows as a “developer” platform will stay around much with HTML 5/JS/CSS taking over there..
Part 2 Coming soon..
Topic: Windows 8 not built for keyboard and mouse users.. Eroding the base user experience for enterprise who isn’t into touch and don’t want to retrain workers how to use the “Windows” key or start menu.. (Or: you thought 1000 secretaries hated the change to the Office Ribbon, here come Metro Keyboard equivalents and Ribbon everywhere on even the classic desktop..
Part 3 Coming soon..
Google and Apple Marketing go on the offensive: Windows used to be special now they look just like us and there are no advantages and their UI is more inconsistent than Vista when switching between desktop and metro.. Are you lost in your apps and where you are ?