[DUG] Windows 8 Metro thoughts

[Jolyon Smith]

Marc seems to be in denial at the moment.

I don't quite see how native code (C++) and .NET now being on a more equal
footing "strengthens" .NET.  Quite the opposite, surely... the message in
recent years has been "native code is dead... .NET is the future of
everything", but now it's "oops, no - our bad... .NET is just a.n.other
option alongside all these other options".

The lack of Win32 is similarly no great revelation either, although it is
perhaps a surprise, and the way Marc describes this suggest that he either
doesn't quite grasp what Metro is or is deliberately misrepresenting things
to suit his (or RO's) own agenda.

He talks about the "Win32 model" of application development and highlights
the fact that you will not be able to simply recompile a Win32 app for Metro
as some great innovative break with the past.  But the exact same thing was
true of .NET...  the .NET framework was a "new model", and you could not
simply recompile a Win32 app for .NET.


The only thing *I* am sure of right now is that I'm not entirely sure what
Windows 8 even is, not least because if you read the blogs of 3 different
people who were at BUILD to explain it you get three different impressions.

It's marginalising .NET
It's strengthening .NET
It's a revolutionary new platform
It's nothing but a tablet UI facade/subsystem

This is a classic symptom of  "Smoke and Mirrors" stuff... nobody is sure of
what they actually are seeing, so they think they've seen what they *want*
to see, and there is nothing of sufficient substance to disprove their own
perception - nobody is right but nobody is wrong either.  After listening to
that video blog linked above, I for one think I can see signs that BUILD was
all about positioning and presentation - a slick gloss over a state of
disarray, confusion and possibly even panic within Microsoft in the face of
a resurgent Apple and burgeoning Android.

Whatever the truth, my first impressions of running the Developer Preview
are that it is a real mess of mixed user interface metaphor and - for
desktop computing - a massive mis-match of UI to input devices.


This is also a bit of an eye opener, pulling back the curtain as it does on
the inner turmoil at Microsoft just a little ...

http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/17254070



On 19 September 2011 12:02, David Brennan <dugdavid at dbsolutions.co.nz>wrote:

> I read this blog post on the Embarcadero blog feed:****
>
> ** **
>
> http://blogs.remobjects.com/blogs/mh/2011/09/17/p3168****
>
> ** **
>
> Interesting, not least because Marc has a go at traditional Win32
> development tools and then clarifies in the comments that he does indeed
> count Delphi. He takes the view that you should use native tools for each
> platform. This is interesting because I would have thought he’s pushing his
> luck saying this on the Embarcadero blog and it also runs counter to their
> new product to compile Oxygene to Java I would have thought.****
>
> ** **
>
> Anyway, the real core of the blog post was about Windows 8 and the major
> changes Microsoft are making, changes which at this stage appear to cut out
> native Win32 style development. Sounds like Win32 apps will still be usable
> in Desktop mode on Intel CPUs but potentially nowhere else. I noticed on
> another Embarcadero blog someone saying that Embarcadero will be supporting
> Windows 8 with Delphi but they aren’t sure exactly how (eg VCL, Firemonkey,
> both?). ****
>
> ** **
>
> One comment Marc Hoffman made was that Microsoft are exposing the XAML UI
> to C++ so that is Microsofts path for doing non managed development. I
> wonder if Embarcadero will try to do the same with CBuilder and Delphi and I
> wonder how much Microsoft would cooperate? And if you did try to expose it
> is that a third Delphi UI option or does VCL or Firemonkey map to it?****
>
> ** **
>
> Anyone else heard anything interesting about Windows 8 and how it affects
> native development?****
>
> ** **
>
> Cheers,****
>
> David.****
>
> ** **
>
> ** **
>
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