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Shawn Wildermuth weighs in on Silverlight:You Fail[^]
In the article he says:
Shawn wrote: In fact, I think that a bigger problem here is that many Silverlight developers are simply holding on too tightly. I respect Shawn so I don't want to be unfair here.
The article was well written, informative, and full of good analysis.
The truth is, often times people do hold on to technology too tightly.
Witness the VB6 thread from earlier this week.
I'm just saying that people who are currently proficient in Silverlight probably aren't the kind of people who hold onto technology too tightly. Those kind of people sound like the type who jump into new technology and give it a whirl. I had to learn async programming, XAML, and new libraries/frameworks to adopt Silverlight. No shortage of change for me there.
I don't see the grumbling here as a Silverlight Developer problem on any level. Silverlight was promoted for years and it's evolved in to a wonderful, feature rich, flexible, and cross-platform technology and for all of that investment to be abandoned because Steve Jobs got snippy with Adobe Flash (a sloppy, antiquated, security hazard) simply boggles my mind.
So no, the bigger problem isn't Silverlight developers holding on too tightly.
The bigger problems is Microsoft suddenly abandoning a great technology because someone in Cupertino pitched a fit over crap Adobe put out. Microsoft finally gets Flash on the ropes and then promptly decides to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Years of promotion, years of investment, years of development all ditched because Steve threw a fit.
Yet I'm the problem.
Well if I am the problem then it's because I've the tendency to learn from history. The most recent lesson I've learned is that years of promotion and hype can be completely abandoned at the drop of a hat. If Sinofsky's departure means anything it means that Redmond has no idea what it's strategy is moving forward. You can bet I'll be a late adopter of WinRT. It ain't because I hang on too tight - it's because I keep getting burned.
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I read this piece last night, and while I can see what he's getting at, I don't completely agree with the message he's putting out. The biggest problem I have with the message is the part that the XAML stack on Windows 8 is better than was available with WPF and Silverlight.
I'm afraid that this just isn't right - XAML 2.0 (what I'm dubbing W8 XAML) misses out some of the features that were available back in 2006 - for example, there's no DataTrigger . If I want to emulate this, then I have to rewrite my triggers to use the VisualStateManager , and programatically trigger it.
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Silverlight's a great technology, and it's going to be usable for a long time. I definitely disagree that Flash has become irrelevant – maybe among trendy iPhoners, although I've seen enough complaints about that that I don't think they're happy to be without it either, but definitely not on the web more generally.
Silverlight isn't dead. It's not even dying. It's just not being actively added to in the next development cycle.
MehGerbil wrote: The most recent lesson I've learned is that years of promotion and hype can be completely abandoned at the drop of a hat. If Sinofsky's departure means anything it means that Redmond has no idea what it's strategy is moving forward. You can bet I'll be a late adopter of WinRT. It ain't because I hang on too tight - it's because I keep getting burned.
Aye, definitely. I'll trust my Silverlight skills over learning the latest new fad which might well not make it.
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There was a VB6 thread and I missed it ? I am in the midst of converting classic ASP and VB6 code to run in the 21st century, how did I miss that ?
Christian Graus
Driven to the arms of OSX by Vista.
Read my blog to find out how I've worked around bugs in Microsoft tools and frameworks.
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Christian Graus wrote: There was a VB6 thread and I missed it ? I am in the midst of converting classic ASP and VB6 code to run in the 21st century, how did I miss that ? The Lounge is a very dynamic place where everything travels at the speed of light.
You really need to pay attention or you'll suffer.
I hope you've learned your lesson.
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Quote: I blame you. Why, what did I do?
There are only 10 types of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who don't.
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Glad I never wasted time going the Silverlight route...
If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.-John Q. Adams You must accept one of two basic premises: Either we are alone in the universe, or we are not alone in the universe. And either way, the implications are staggering.-Wernher von Braun Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.-Albert Einstein
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ahmed zahmed wrote: Glad I never wasted time going the Silverlight route...
Supposedly the WinRT environment is very similar (80% match or so) but I'm not sure I want to spend a great deal of time with Microsoft's next orphan. I mean, what if an Oracle executive decides databases are passe - will SQL Server be canceled?
What makes it even more bizarre is that Steve Jobs was head of the most closed system on the planet - so Microsoft's response was to kill a cross platform alternative. The whole thing is just whacky.
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MehGerbil wrote: The whole thing is just whacky. Indeed.
If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.-John Q. Adams You must accept one of two basic premises: Either we are alone in the universe, or we are not alone in the universe. And either way, the implications are staggering.-Wernher von Braun Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.-Albert Einstein
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