
Build business apps in .NET - not HTML or JavaScript - johns
http://neverindoubtnet.blogspot.com/2011/11/build-business-apps-in-net-not-html-or.html
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TomOfTTB
I am...

1\. Primarily a C# developer

2\. In charge of the IT needs for an agency of 250+ computers

3\. Currently have over 20 Microsoft certifications in Development and Server
technology.

Having said all that let me say he's completely wrong. Not only is he wrong he
can't be very dialed in to his own community because almost everyone I talk to
in the Microsoft business app arena is an ASP.NET developer at this point. I
don't know anyone developing desktop apps anymore.

Beyond that he seems to be one of those developers who thinks a business app
means stuff like the Entity Framework (Microsoft's overly complicated data
modeling tool). Hence his belief that "the tools don't exist to write his app
in JS/HTML5" or that "there is no place to learn how to make HTML/JS business
apps" (someone should point him to all those IBM guides on Python)

Finally the root of his misconceptions is this idea that "Windows is the only
OS that matters in Business Apps". I'm sorry but that just isn't true anymore.
At least not if you look to the future. Microsoft's Metro interface is more
foreign to users than the Mac is and the Mac connects to existing Domain
servers.

So I, and many other people I know, are starting to give serious consideration
to using Macs in the near future. Especially with users adopting iPhones and
iPads (and no it doesn't matter how much sense a Windows 8 tablet makes if the
CEO of your company loves his iPad and wants everyone to have one).

Bottom Line: This is a person living in 2008

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rjd
I decided to take a break from the .net community a while back, recently I
decided to start going to meetings again and theres been a heavy mind shift
that I've seen. Lots of extremely defensive people, lots of people saying
things similar to this guys article.

If you go back to your date of 2008 MS devs where on top of the world, quite
smug, standing on pedestals, lauding over other programmers... The whole
Balmer "developer developers developers" summed up the buzz in the community.

What I've seen just recently is the completely opposite, theres fear in the
community, theres a lot of people who built there careers on the coat tails of
MS... and MS seems to be failing them. Microsoft aren't helping the situation
by being cagey about the future of there platform.

Theres lots of talk of other platforms at the meetings, people asking
equations like "What others languages have you used?" , "Can you use
Objective-C?", and of cause discussions around those types of questions.
Others usually very opinionated seem very quiet. Its not the saw community
I've been mulling with for the last decade.

MS is loosing the loyalty of its developers in my group, and if this is wide
spread then I think you're going to see more and more articles like this,
proclaiming more and more outrageous claims about why MS is the best.

For me, I've halted my windows development and started porting my apps to
Objective-C, Java, and python. I can't be bothered with uncertainty. OSX is
stable for me, I like the interface (and it doesn't get in my way like Win7
and Win8 does), and although I really enjoy C# and visual studio I'm prepared
to give other things ago.

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perezd
I want to be as cool as this guy when I grow up.

I really want to believe the mouthpiece over at Microsoft, he makes a
convincing argument, "nobody is skilled in HTML _5_", what does that even
mean? Clearly this guy doesn't even know what he is battling here.

Everyone knows business apps don't need to be cross platform, and none of us
know what we're doing. I won't even waste my time listing the tools available
for modern JS projects, especially for data-centric applications.

What we need are MORE single-platform alternatives! Because anyone who is
actually getting work done, is doing it on the platform made by the company
who is writing my checks!

What a tool.

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dj_axl
Is it just me or is this blog post not clear on what the definition of
"business app" is? If it's for internal use, fine, whatever. If it's for
enterprise application for millions of users, build the backend in
C#/Java/Python/Ruby/Erlang/yourlanguagehere and build the frontend in
something crossplatform like HTML/JS or Flash/Air. If you plan developing apps
as a business, look at the SaaS/SaaP/cloud model.

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dietcokedrinker
Unsurprisingly all the answers here are from the Python and Ruby community
folk. Have a look on a Job board for LoB apps that require those two languages
and you'll get a shock.

You choose .NET or Java or C++ for the real world apps that large businesses
use to talk to other large businesses. The reason is these companies (minus
banks perhaps) all run Windows, with Active Directory and all use Outlook and
Exchange.

Design agencies producing iPhone apps and websites don't use those
technologies and get monkeys to produce HTML and JS.

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dotBen
In the past month I have heard from the founders of two startups who both had
late-stage acquisition talks sour when technical due-diligence raised that
they had all or large amounts of their stack in .NET.

Even Enterprise companies that run .NET are mostly trying to get off of it,
and so unlikely to want to acquire more .NET code.

If that's a good reason NOT to build in .NET, I don't know what is

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thegorgon
No Ward Bell. You're wrong.

Also, why does everyone seem to be emphasizing this fantastic new technology,
HTML5? HTML5 is just good ole fashioned HTML with a few new tags. I assume
they're not calling out the header tag, or the nav tag, or the wbr tag...

When people say HTML5 do they really mean canvas? or CSS3 styles? And what
does Ward here mean "nobody is skilled in HTML _5_"?

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bediger
Why the upvotes with no corresponding complimentary comments?

My problem with this article is that the author defines his problem away.
"Sovereign app", "user paid to use the app", he gets to the point where just
about the only thing to do is write a .NET app. He explicitly disallows
clever/disruptive apps, the kind that just might negate the need for a
"sovereign app".

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voidr
0 click install seems to be a pretty good feature to me, you don't have to
carry around an .exe file. You can make your web app run as fast as your
native app, if most of the data processing happens on a central server anyway.

Of course you can provide more sugar with native apps, no doubt about it, but
nowadays web apps can be pretty good, there are exceptionally good tools out
there and portability of your app is a really good selling point.

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jzoidberg
Ward Bell is right and a visionary to boot.

I hope all our competitors read this blog and follow his advice.

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vinced
what a self serving tool. Anyone building anything today is building as a web
app.

