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Vista's big problem: 92 percent of developers ignoring it
Cnet.com ^ | 6/16/08 | Matt Asay

Posted on 06/16/2008 8:35:11 PM PDT by twntaipan

And to think Microsoft used to be popular with the developer crowd...

Not anymore. A recent report from Evans Data shows fewer than one in 10 software developers writing applications for Windows Vista this year. Eight percent. This is perhaps made even worse by the corresponding data that shows 49 percent of developers writing applications for Windows XP.

Such appreciation for history is not likely to warm the cockles of Microsoft's heart, especially when Linux is getting lots of love from developers (13 percent writing apps for it this year and 15.5 percent in 2009). The Mac? I don't have any equivalent data via Evans Data. But the Mac OS has rocketed by 380 percent as a targeted development platform, Evans Data told Computerworld.

The numbers don't get much better for Vista in 2009: 24 percent (compared with 29 percent for XP). That's a big step up from 8 percent, but is it a sign of momentum to come or just a temporary stopgap while developers wait until Windows 7?

Nor has Microsoft made it easy to develop Vista applications, according to an article in ITJungle.com:

Unfortunately, that improved security posture makes it more difficult for developers to write applications for Vista (read: no more kernel-level access and UAC to worry about), and it also causes compatibility problems with older applications. Ironically, the wave of attacks targeting operating system vulnerabilities has largely passed, and today hackers have moved on to target applications. At the same time, Microsoft has provided iterative improvements in Windows XP security, bolstering its status as "good enough" and further eating into Vista's pie.

Indeed. Microsoft doesn't need to handicap itself on the desktop given its difficulties competing everywhere else. With Linux and the Mac taking ever-increasing shares of the developer pie, Microsoft would do well to shore up developer support for Windows.

Unfortunately for Microsoft, that probably means re-investing in XP and forgetting its "New Coke" moment with Vista.


TOPICS: Computers/Internet
KEYWORDS: linux; mac; microsoft; operatingsystems; vista
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1 posted on 06/16/2008 8:39:12 PM PDT by twntaipan
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To: twntaipan

I refused to own a machine running Vista. I don’t want Microsoft to know what I do. Even if it’s just purchasing shirts off the internet.


2 posted on 06/16/2008 8:41:57 PM PDT by wastedyears (Like a bat outta Hell.)
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To: twntaipan
OK, since Vista is backwards compatible for XP, and other Windows OS, what makes more business sense? Write XP software so XP and Vista users can use it, or just write Vista software and every one else is screwed?
3 posted on 06/16/2008 8:42:02 PM PDT by chaos_5 (Proud to be one of the 10% not rallying around McCain)
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To: wastedyears
I refused to own a machine running Vista. I don’t want Microsoft to know what I do. Even if it’s just purchasing shirts off the internet.

You honestly think MS cares what you are doing online?


4 posted on 06/16/2008 8:44:23 PM PDT by chaos_5 (Proud to be one of the 10% not rallying around McCain)
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To: twntaipan

Developers should like Vista. It should make them feel better about their own slow, bloated code.


5 posted on 06/16/2008 8:44:54 PM PDT by TheWasteLand
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To: chaos_5

Check out what the Microsoft phishing filter *really* doea.


6 posted on 06/16/2008 8:45:14 PM PDT by Spktyr (Overwhelmingly superior firepower and the willingness to use it is the only proven peace solution.)
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To: Spktyr

Use Firefox =o)


7 posted on 06/16/2008 8:46:47 PM PDT by chaos_5 (Proud to be one of the 10% not rallying around McCain)
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To: twntaipan
High Priest Steve Ballmer prophesies.
8 posted on 06/16/2008 8:51:29 PM PDT by Rebelbase
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To: ShadowAce

Tech ping!


9 posted on 06/16/2008 8:54:04 PM PDT by rabscuttle385
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To: chaos_5

Better solution - don’t support companies that promulgate such things. I use Firefox... on a Mac.


10 posted on 06/16/2008 8:56:19 PM PDT by Spktyr (Overwhelmingly superior firepower and the willingness to use it is the only proven peace solution.)
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To: Spktyr
Yeah, but I would like to see you build your own Mac and run the latests DirectX 10 games on it.
11 posted on 06/16/2008 8:59:01 PM PDT by chaos_5 (Proud to be one of the 10% not rallying around McCain)
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To: twntaipan

Vista has much bigger problems than developers. IT people won’t let their companies near it for very good reason.

http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~pgut001/pubs/vista_cost.html


12 posted on 06/16/2008 9:06:06 PM PDT by MrEdd (Heck? Geewhiz Cripes, thats the place where people who don't believe in Gosh think they aint going.)
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To: chaos_5

That’s what the PlayStation3 is for.

Or, rather, since there are no video cards that *really* support dX10 just yet, you might find that difficult to do...


13 posted on 06/16/2008 9:06:15 PM PDT by Spktyr (Overwhelmingly superior firepower and the willingness to use it is the only proven peace solution.)
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To: chaos_5

Oh, and while you’re trying to one up me on the geek scale? I’d like to see *you* build your own vintage Jaguar out of a giant pile of parts and then use it as a daily driver.

Call me back when you’ve achieved that level. Compared to that, building a computer from off the shelf parts is both unimportant and trivial.


14 posted on 06/16/2008 9:07:36 PM PDT by Spktyr (Overwhelmingly superior firepower and the willingness to use it is the only proven peace solution.)
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To: chaos_5

Actually many XP compatible software apps won’t install on Vista due to security settings. However a lot of older Win95 software runs perfectly well.

There is a huge demand for Vista compatible software. Eventually someone is going to figure out that you can make a ton of money porting applications to Vista.


15 posted on 06/16/2008 9:09:14 PM PDT by Kirkwood (Ask me again tomorrow.)
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To: chaos_5
Yeah, but I would like to see you build your own Mac and run the latests DirectX 10 games on it.

I see the anti-Mac argument has come full circle from the days when Macintosh was sneeringly dismissed as a "toy" computer for kids and grandmas, and all the hardheaded business types used Windows to get real work done.

Nowadays, I have gone 100% OS X because I have important business to attend to, I don't play any computer games, and my time is much too valuable to waste in building my own computer and keeping it free of spyware and viruses. I shall leave that to the unemployed pasty-faced basement-dwelling hobbyists who actually care about crap like DirectX. If I want to play a game, I'll use my boy's X-Box.

-ccm

16 posted on 06/16/2008 9:14:03 PM PDT by ccmay (Too much Law; not enough Order.)
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To: twntaipan

After shutting itself down and rebooting, this morning my Vista laptop informed me that it needed to download and update. The update was a mere 196mb. I don’t care what planet you come from 196mb isn’t an update. That is a system reconfiguration.


17 posted on 06/16/2008 9:16:07 PM PDT by USNBandit (sarcasm engaged at all times)
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To: Spktyr
OK, you own a Mac and are obviously not a gamer. I'm not going to get into a pissing contest over Mac/PC is better this and that. I will address the points you just made.

1. PS3 and PC gaming are not comparable. Yes many game titles do cross publish, but there are many differences. This is especially true in MMORPG’s

2. PS3 does not use DX10

3. If my 8800GTX is not *relay* running DX10 while I'm playing Crysis, then I'm impressed buy it's imitation.

When it comes down to it different OS's and different hardware configurations are suited to different needs.

18 posted on 06/16/2008 9:17:17 PM PDT by chaos_5 (Proud to be one of the 10% not rallying around McCain)
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To: twntaipan

That’s because the vast majority of applications that run on XP run just as well on Vista.

Sheesh, the crapola that gets passed off as “tech news” around here.


19 posted on 06/16/2008 9:20:39 PM PDT by Doohickey (SSN: One ship, one crew, one screw.)
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To: Spktyr
I’d like to see *you* build your own vintage Jaguar out of a giant pile of parts and then use it as a daily driver.

You should see the condition of some of the aircraft we put back together for the Navy. I may be a computer geek, but I'm also a mechanic. Given that I don't have the said pile of parts, I cant get that done. But, I'm sure with the right tools I could.

20 posted on 06/16/2008 9:20:56 PM PDT by chaos_5 (Proud to be one of the 10% not rallying around McCain)
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