Steve Jobs made an interesting commentrecently about including Java in the iPhone:
“Java’s not worth building in. Nobody uses Java anymore. It’s this big heavyweight ball and chain.”
So we have probably reached the end of the Java hype that started in 1995, since cellphones represent one of the largest users of Java technology. Over the past decade, Java has made developers comfortable with the idea of compiling an application to bytecode and running it on a virtual machine. So while VM’s running bytecode will continue to thrive, the Java language may not.
Microsoft made a brilliant decision when they made the .Net runtime language agnostic. Developers are often passionate about what language they use, but very few care about the VM bytecode format – the .Net CLR was designed to survive changing fashions in application development.
My guess is that WPF/e is the next “write once, run anywhere” solution, done with better tools, better graphics and better marketing.
Not that I’m a smalltalk-er, but I’ve just arrived at your site as part of researching WPF/e.
> My guess is that WPF/e is the next “write once, run anywhere”
I’m not sure at all about that. WPF/e is perhaps best desribed as “the previous flash”.
Ideally WPF, with a compact CLR, and a standard set of UI controls, to produce a cross platform xbap engine would be the next “write once, run anywhere”, and I hope against hopes that this happens!
however it looks like some of the suits in MS are carefully making sure that fully functional applications don’t go cross platform any time soon,
I can’t help but feel the original plans for cross platform xbap have been scuppered.
It’s going to take a 3rd party to take things in this inevitable direction, Adobe flex is along the right lines, but a standard .Net CLR and the language flexibility it provides is what we want.
How about an opensource project to create a mono CLR connected to a presentation framework (mebbe gtk) browser plug in?
Comment by andyclap — January 16, 2007 @ 12:58 pm
Mono and GTK are not even close to the functionality of .Net and Xaml.
I assume that Microsoft will protect their tools business (VisualStudio, Expression, etc).
They will have to provide enough functionality in WPF/e to win against Adobe, so I expect that WPF/e will have most or all of the capabilities of Apollo.
Comment by pfisk — January 16, 2007 @ 5:37 pm
Hi,
Incase Java is outdated and .NET catches all the market, I predict
what happened to intel will happen to all
there will be
*) license cost for compiling
*) may be monthly rental for having app in phone
*) manufacturers will need to increase the price as they will be paying MS for supporting them
etc etc… enjoy
Comment by javalover — January 17, 2007 @ 12:39 pm
Microsoft will make their money from tools such as “Visual Studio” and “Expression Blend” as well as from sales of Vista and Xbox. The .Net runtimes will remain free, just as Java runtimes have been free for the past ten years – at least, I hope they stay free.
Comment by pfisk — January 17, 2007 @ 1:00 pm