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Twelve percent of all North American software developers have begun using C#,...

The majority of developers using C# are only dabbling with the new language, however. Most current C# programmers are using the new language for less than 20 percent of their development work, choosing other languages for the brunt of their work, the survey of about 800 developers showed.

The article seems to mask the actual numbers but, they seem to be around 0.12 x 0.20 x 800 = 19.2 developers in this survey you tout, are using MicroSoft's proprietary language.

Or about 24 developers in 1000 are using MicroSoft's proprietary programming language.

This means, if the above calculations done in my head are correct, that 986 developers out of 1000 ARE NOT using MicroSoft's proprietary programming language.

Are you sure you want to brag about this ?

Do you realize that developers have little to say about what language they use? A survey such as this is useless, and not because it isn't glowing with Microsoft praise. It is useless because it does not measure the use, or intended use, by the people who actually decide. On three projects just this past week that I am involved with, there are over 50 developers who will be using C# and .NET on major projects within the next two months. They are currently using UNIX/C++, ASP, and Visual Basic 6. I just know that they, and their cross section, were not included in that survey.

As Harr stated in a thread last month, let's wait a year and see who is actually using .NET and what its growth has been. We know the use and growth of Java, C++, VB, and ASP because they have been around at least five years. To say that .NET and C# are dead would be clairvoyant, and I don't think any of us is that good. Hell, there were plenty of people putting down Java when I picked it up, and loved it, who said Java was a toy like Visual Basic. Yes, it was at first, but it was a server toy and nice change from client side computing and server side C++ services!

My predictions, what they are worth, are that it will be a typical industry split; 40% to .NET or Java and 60% to the other. They will find their niche markets and the other will have a hard time competing in that market. The companies, Microsoft and Sun, will not be friendly and the developers will be just as bad. The industry will tire of us and decide for itself. Our word will seem to be biased, making the selling of the project hard. Some companies and projects will pick their technology and do very well, while the rest will bicker and fail.

My choice; I will concentrate on .NET while my peer will concentrate on J2EE. We will work together to sell the right solution, and part of that will be the client's personal choice. We will present costs and capabilities, and chose the solution we will present based on actual facts and the needs of our clients. My prediction is that .NET will work best, at the best cost, at least 90% of the time for new projects and it will be a toss up for existing ones. Anyone who has any experience, and has listened to their clients, knows that they will not dump a $10 million Oracle installation for SQL Server, and likewise. .NET will make its best appearance on new projects where the customer wants a fast development time, cheaper costs, including resources, and desires an integrated solution; one product suite for it all. Of course, the J2EE fellow will argue the same thing. Such is technology.