[musya]

Is it just me or does anybody else think that Microsoft needs to switch to vector based graphics for their OS? Pat on the back to Apple in my opinion.

[lordofduct]

WPF supports vector graphics, but WPF doesn't have the developer backing that WinForms does. Most developers I meet prefer to stick with what they know instead of learning a whole new framework. A lot of them just got through the .Net barrier (yep, business development can be very slow to adapt, in my office we only recently started going Win7, and that's only a 3 desktops in the whole office).

So back support needs to remain. And actually back support is king. Everytime MS cuts support for something, or for technical reasons says to get a new feature you need to move to some new OS (DX10 not in XP?) the entire community freaks out. So of course they take a more pragmatic approach to such things.

[bflosabre91]

WPF is incredible. We still run 90% XP but slowly but surely we are moving to W7. I've been lucky enough to be able to make the switch to 100% WPF applications and i can't imagine going back to winforms now. The other developer here still is on winforms and .net 2.0 and he's hesitant to change, like most developers probably are. I hear all the time that WPF is going to replace Winforms and as much as i'd love to see that happen, i don't really see it. Where its at right now, i think it can but the masses are so slow to change, by the time they do the next great thing will be out.

[Curtis Rutland]

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yep, business development can be very slow to adapt, in my office we only recently started going Win7

No shit! Our company is planning for the transition off IE 6. Yes, 6. Well, our main problem is our CRM, which is holding back so many systems. I'm on the replacement team, so I get to help get rid of this unwieldy POS software.

Quote

I hear all the time that WPF is going to replace Winforms and as much as i'd love to see that happen, i don't really see it. Where its at right now, i think it can but the masses are so slow to change, by the time they do the next great thing will be out.

I don't think it'll ever replace WinForms, per se, just like VB.NET never replaced VB6. It's supposed to, and no development will be made for the old versions, but MS isn't going to take the tool away, at least for many years.

Just don't expect any new development for Forms applications. Their effort is going into WPF (especially since that also benefits Silverlight and Phone development as well).

[lordofduct]

insertAlias, on 22 March 2011 - 09:57 AM, said:

I don't think it'll ever replace WinForms, per se, just like VB.NET never replaced VB6. It's supposed to, and no development will be made for the old versions, but MS isn't going to take the tool away, at least for many years.

Exactly!

The first majour thing that needs to be done to get WPF to have wider acceptance is for it to fix the number 1 reason I hear people complain about not wanting to go to it.

WinForms has a much larger selection of component controls both from MS (which MS is fixing) and 3rd party (which is double edged, because it's the 3rd parties afraid to adopt).


Really other then that WPF has nothing against it. The only thing holding back is fear of change. And that will shrink over time... a long time, and there will still be stragglers (my office is only NOW converting a large VB6 project, and it probably won't be released under .Net for another 6 months).

[SpeedisaVirus]

Yeah, planning our company's next flagship product. WPF it is. The last web app killed IE6 and 7 support. IE9, FF4, and this penchant for ipad functional apps is busting our balls but its falling into place with some effort.

Either way, WPF is the future so people need to buck up and get with the damn program.

[Curtis Rutland]

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Either way, WPF is the future so people need to buck up and get with the damn program.

Not to beat a dead horse, but they said the same thing about VB.NET and VB6. As much as I agree with you, it's not going to happen any time soon.

[SpeedisaVirus]

Same way as people need to ditch IE6/XP and get with IE9/Win7. People can be dumb...often.

PS: I understand some apps only run on IE6...but if your org relies on them and the developers refuse to advance that tidbit of software it's time to look for alternatives. I worked in a place that still ran ME in some cases due to legacy software...last year. That is absolutely BS. Even XP is on it's last leg. It's a decade old now...let it go.

This post has been edited by SpeedisaVirus: 22 March 2011 - 06:46 PM

[ishkabible]

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get with IE9/Win7

why IE at all? IE sucks and there are free alternatives like Firefox, Chrome, and Opera.

edit: even you use Chrome, why would you advocate using IE?

This post has been edited by ishkabible: 22 March 2011 - 08:09 PM

[Curtis Rutland]

Mainly because IE is easily configured via Group Policy. I personally like Chrome too, but neither Chrome nor Firefox can easily be configured by the admins that way.

Also, in a corporate environment, rendering the newest HTML5 pages isn't a benefit. Almost no business-necessary pages will be broken in IE. But there will likely be intranet applications that are IE only. Plus, IE comes with Windows and is updated with Windows Update (and you can schedule those updates using WSUS).

I don't like using IE much either (though 9 is actually pretty good), but this is corporate culture.

[lordofduct]

yep

corporate culture is a very different world, and moves at its own pace (a sluggish pace at that). Thing is they are the largest group of users when it comes to things like .Net, IE, etc. And this is why WPF, though better, will take a long time to be adopted.

Main reason, it's expensive.

It's expensive to code the new version
It's expensive to get it ok'd by the boss
It's expensive to draw up a speech/diagram/etc to prove to the boss it's a good idea
It's expensive to teach all the monkey's in the office how to use the new product
It's expensive to 'debug' it after all the monkey's ignored you and did it their own way and 'found' issues
It's expensive to buy the gun you'll blown your brains out with if Ms. Lucy asks you why the Sneider account is 'missing' again when it's sitting in front of her God Damn nose.

[Creecher]

This is also a big problem with the school system in my area as well.

They refuse to upgrade the operating systems on the computers from XP (which they switched to about 6-7 years ago).

I've written a few emails to the school board of Volusia County suggesting they change the default operating system from Windows XP to Ubuntu Linux or even invest in some Apple computers.

I have seen some Macintosh PCs in a few classes (TV productions, some digital design classes). Though the usage of them has been very spotty.