That thing about all of the IDEs being conformed, Well not this one!

[Robert113355]

Unbelievable how microsoft misses the point so often.

They stated that all languages will have a uniform interface. Personally this sounded to me like they were going to actually go a borland route and give c++ a nice Gui builder interface to create them and be able to run on Unmanaged code..... Umm NOPE!

Now if you want a decent gui builder you must either use a) managed code, b) some other program.

I understand the idea yet, I think this will move developers away from Microsoft, since there are exactly ZERO average jo user computers with .Net installed on them now, and there is a ton of old comps out there still.

[Brad Jones]

Future versions of Windows will have .NET as a part of them so eventually .NET will make it nearly everywhere.

To use a VB analogy, not everyone has the VB runtime DLLs on their machines. This just means that if you install a VB program, you need to install the runtime if it doesn't already exist. The same holds true of .NET-based applications.

- Brad!

[leefranke]

Keep in mind that the complete .Net runtimes are about 30M.

Lee Franke

[Brad Jones]

I remember spending days trying to get my code to run in less than 640k. A meg of memory was a pipe dream for most end user computers. Things change.

I also spend months presenting data and other proof that Windows was a solid platform that could be used to develop applications. The argument was that everyone was using DOS and that Windows required too much from users to begin using. Things change.

The change from Windows programming to .NET programming is huge. If you don't think so, then you may not be seeing the entire idea. It is as big as the change from DOS-based apps to Windows-based apps. I agree that today it looks like a major pipe-dream. But in the late 80's the thought of writing programs without worrying about the "640k barrier" was also a pipe dream. Writing applications that connected with others across the country without writing lots of low level modem or other routines was also a pipe dream.

When Sun launched Java they said it would run on any Java Virtual Machine and that these JVMs would be on all the platforms. It was a pipe dream too. Things changed. JVMs were built.

I agree that .NET is nothing right now, but I also see the number of people and organizations that have taken their turn at the pipe. Big companies. In two years, let's all look back and see whether it was the pipe talking or reality.

Based on experience, I'm willing to bet it is reality. -- And I bet enough to invest time writing a book related to .NET - which is no small investment in time.


30 Mg is a lot by today's standards. More important than the runtime - which is a one-time install, look at the size of an executable that will run on .NET. They are small.

Bigger, faster, more powerful machines are needed for .net? Yes. But there was a day when people balked at being forced to use a 80386 processor since the 80286s worked just fine.

Man, you guys are making me feel real old. (and I'm not! I refuse to be.)

Sorry for the ramble.

Brad!
Things change.

[RickCrone]

We were sure DOS wouldn't make it 'cause there were already thousands of programs to do just about anything you could want to do that run under CPM and nothing to run on that DOS machine.

64K was a lot of memory and 8 inch floppies were much more reliable than those flakey 5 1/4 inch.

Are you feeling any younger yet?

Rick Crone