Interesting Microsoft Insight from Javalobby
A couple of weeks ago, Microsoft hosted a Technology Summit and invited many prominent members from a variety of different platforms (Linux, Java, Flash, etc.) to our campus in Redmond. They spent two-and-a-half packed days listening to presentations, learning about our products and tools, asking hard questions, and providing great feedback. The founder of Javalobby, Rick Ross, has recorded a summary of his insights and thoughts based on the summit. A downloadable PDF version is also available (free registration required).
Here are a couple of interesting quotes:
The VS.NET 2005 and Avalon demos simply show the power that this company wields. Their tools and the Windows platform as a whole are evolving rapidly to keep pace with developer and customer expectations. Again, I know I was not the only one thinking to myself, “Wow, those are some serious tools!” and wishing we could enjoy fully-compatible Java development plugins for the Visual Studio environment.
The ASP.NET 2.0 examples were a case in point: the modular blocks of functionality you get with ASP.NET 2.0 had all the leading Java guys in the audience drooling. No Joke, they really did.
Of course, I chose those quotes, because it's great to hear nice things about your own company and its products. However, there's a lot more to learn from Rick's summary, and it's definitely worth a listen.
Comments
- Anonymous
March 29, 2005
One of the most adequate opinion for the last few years... I hope "The War Is" really "Over"... - Anonymous
March 30, 2005
:( - Anonymous
March 30, 2005
Hey Mike,
Hope your doing good up in Redmond, found a house yet? It is finally 60 degrees again back in your old home state.
I have a question for you along these lines. There was a recent post by either Josh Ledgard or Eric Gunnerson someone from the C# community (sorry can't find it to link to it) but they wrote an article about us people that have been doing the C# VS.net thing since 2002 and even currently are the Pioneers of the new technology.
I mean the 2.0 stuff is great yeah, but heck 1.0 is awsome as well. Your thoughts and opinions? Are the current .net programmers really the Pioneers? I guess I never viewed myself that way. I just looked at .net as this is some awsome stuff hows come it is taking so long for these other people to come around. - Anonymous
March 30, 2005
Jeff...yes, we did find a house in Sammamish, and we're finally settled in. Thanks for asking.
I don't think I read the article you're referencing, but I'd agree that C# is a great language, even in its first version. It's not fair to consider it alone, however, as there is a long lineage of languages before it: http://www.levenez.com/lang/history.html
As far as being "Pioneers of the new technology," I'm not sure what new technology was being referred to, but it would certainly apply to .NET. So from that perspective, the current .NET programmers are--in a sense--Pioneers for managed development on the Microsoft platform.
I don't agree with the phrase: "...how come it is taking so long for these other people to come around." Developing managed code in .NET is the best programming experience I've had in my 25+ year development history, so I agree that it's exceptionally productive. However, what I like about this Javalobby report is that it shows respect for other langauges, platforms, and environments. So, although I'll evangelize .NET development 'til I'm blue in the face, I have to respect the fact that there are other opinions, scenarios, and justifications. As Rick Ross mentions, we're all developers.