.NET dead in 2 Years ?

[Didi H.]

Hi,
in our company we are currently thinking about to do new project in .NET.
I like this idea but there is another group that has a totally different
opinon.
Yesterday I got the following email, and I am wondering if it is true what
is said in this mail.
Here is the mail it is very long:

CTO Corner
Where is the Industry going?
What technologies and platforms make sense for GUPTA and its customers to
grow their business? Is Longhorn the answer to all IT challenges? What about
the coexistence of Windows and Linux in the future? These questions need
answers and I want to share some thoughts about our direction.

What is Longhorn?
Longhorn is Microsoft's next Desktop operating system that will offer the
next generation of application development. Longhorn will allow developers
to create rich-client applications that reside on a central server and, via
HTTP (web browser) users will be able to access these applications and, the
applications will make calls to the new operating system to render graphics
and other services. The user experiences will be very much like a
client/server application offering much of the rich features and immediate
feedback such as population of drop-down combo boxes, populated fields, etc.
Developers will only have to maintain one single version of the application,
which will reduce much of the time and frustration of deploying
client/server applications.

What about the delays in Longhorn?
Because Microsoft tightly integrates their development tools and other
supporting products with the operating system the delay of Longhorn has far
reaching implications. The delay of Longhorn, from 2004 to 2006 not only
affects Microsoft products, but also affects independent software vendors
like GUPTA.

What does it mean to GUPTA?
As an independent provider of a RAD development tool and embedded database
engine, we must look at the broader market. Linux is quickly becoming a
contender for the desktop space and, in fact, many believe it may offer
better support for Windows applications in the near and long term than
Microsoft. It is very important for everyone to understand that Longhorn
will not support most of today's applications, even many of the .NET
applications written today.

There is serious doubt about Microsoft's ability to deliver Longhorn even by
2006 and even more concern about the financial implications to business as
they are forced to rewrite most Microsoft based applications. Team
Developer has a long history of protecting its developers from having to
rewrite entire applications every time the underlying operating system or
technology changes. This is why it's important for GUPTA to fully
understand the Longhorn release and, determine how GUPTA can best ensure
developers will be minimally impacted. Anyone serious about this topic
should read the following links.

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/04_16/b3879001_mz001.htm

http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=19502405

http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1589204,00.asp

http://channelzone.ziffdavis.com/article2/0,1759,1589870,00.asp

http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,,1586641,00.asp

Where is GUPTA heading?
Some customers have asked why we are developing a Linux product rather than
a .NET product? The answer is very simple - .NET as we know it today has a
life span of two years and it is hardly worth investing in technology that
is going to be deprecated or significantly changed.

On the other hand, there is a lot of momentum on the Linux platform. A
number of governments, corporations and SME's are either implementing or
evaluating the use of Linux as a desktop and vendors like Novell/SUSE and
Red Hat are providing some very compelling Linux desktop distributions.
This in conjunction with a number of other projects such as WINE
http://www.winehq.com/, MONO http://www.go-mono.com/mono-roadmap.html and
the work being done by the Desktop Linux Consortium XUL project
(http://news.com.com/2100-1032_3-5201325.html) mean that not far off in the
future there will be a .NET framework and Longhorn equivalent on Linux.
This creates a huge opportunity for GUPTA to become a major player in the
cross-platform market allowing developers to create Microsoft Windows and
Linux applications using a single source code line.

What does it mean to GUPTA customers?
In a word - Opportunity! Can you imagine writing a Team Developer Linux
application with just three or four developers and delivering the
application in just four or five months versus a team of 10 Java programmers
delivering an application is 18 months if at all. This is not rhetoric, it
is fact.

What's more, the Linux market is a green field for ISVs, VARS and software
houses. Business applications are the final link needed to make the Linux
desktop a reality. For those who have stayed with GUPTA products, they will
be able to take applications they have invested many man years in
development and quickly offer a Linux version by simply taking their source
code files and recompiling in Team Developer for Linux. This is a huge
opportunity for economic growth in 2005 and 2006.

Additionally, as the MONO project progresses and Microsoft clarifies the
feature set for Longhorn, GUPTA will be in place to provide a version of
Team Developer that will generate MSIL code that can be run on both Longhorn
and Linux taking advantage of both platforms. As we monitor the Desktop
Linux Consortiums XUL project, we will see how it mirrors the features of
Longhorn and, determine how best to take advantage of this new technology as
well.

 

[Marina]

I recommend you delete SPAM like this as soon as you get it. And I wouldn't
do business with a company that would actually send an email like this to
their clients.

 

[Didi H.]

I recommend you delete SPAM like this as soon as you get it. And I wouldn't
do business with a company that would actually send an email like this to
their clients.

For me this is also SPAM but tell this to my bosses. We are currently using
tools from this company.

 

[Marina]

The people in this email are making things up as far as how long .NET will
last - how do they know? Where did they get this? How shocking that they
are making things up about their biggest competitor, which they have no
chance competing against! Why would anyone want to go with them, as opposed
to a well established company like Microsoft or Sun?

Even if I were to every consider going with this company, based on this
email alone, I would refuse to ever do business with them - I can't believe
they let this email out the door.

Notice that after bashing .NET and longhorn - they say their tool will
generate MSIL code that can be run on it? Why do that if it's going to be
gone any minute? Not only that, they say that longhorn will be delayed until
2006 and that .NET will be gone in 2 years - so why would they generate MSIL
for longhorn, given that by the time it comes out .NET will be gone anyway?
Can they not do the math?

Anyway, .NET isn't going anywhere anytime soon - but no doubt it will
disappear eventually, as everything does. In the meantime, many companies
are using it for both web based and windows development. Linux is not
really a competitor to windows regardless of what some people would like to
believe. Your average business is not going to turn to Linux for their OS.

 

[John Spiegel]

Hi Didi,

If you're like most programmers I've run into, you aren't very familiar with
Visual FoxPro. Maybe heard of it. Maybe worked with someone who used the
"pre-Visual" DOS product in '91. It's been on its "last release" since
Microsoft bought it around 1990 (or so). And by "last release" I mean there
have only been (depending on how you look at it) nine new versions since
with a tenth soon to release. The point? Even though VFP (a shame not many
really appreciate it) has not had much market share to speak of, it's
outlived rumors of its death for nearly 15 years...and counting. If MS
didn't kill off a product with the relatively small user base VFP has, I
have a very hard time believing it's going to come around in '06 and tell us
that the last six years have just been a dream.

If your (pointy-haired?) management is going to put that much weight into a
competitor's promotional piece, perhaps you should send yourself an email
from an "unbiased third party" extolling the virtues of .NET and how
Microsoft chairman, Bill Gates, was quoted as saying, "This is our platform
vision through this century and into next." <g>

- John

 

[John Timney \(Microsoft MVP\)]

I have to agree with Marinas points - I dont normally respond to this type
of crud but thats one of worst spam piles I've read lately. I feel sorry
for you if your company are intending to do any credible busines with this
firm.

Just to pick out one of their pointless statements, Mono that already runs
on Linux without their code generator - they state that and yet contradict
themselves by saying .net has a two year lifetime so why would you use their
tools to create net MSIL, why would you want to use their tools to tie
yourself into such a short deadline. Your .NET C# apps if written correctly
without making use of the microsoft namespace will likely already run on
Linux without needing spam and tools from this firm. I'd lile to see them
create a cross platform MSIL that did use the MS namespace.

.....as for their claim a there will be a Longhorn equivalent on
Linux.................not in this lifetime!.

--
Regards

John Timney
Microsoft Regional Director
Microsoft MVP

 

[John Bailo]

Additionally, as the MONO project progresses and Microsoft clarifies the
feature set for Longhorn, GUPTA will be in place to provide a version of
Team Developer that will generate MSIL code that can be run on both
Longhorn
and Linux taking advantage of both platforms. As we monitor the Desktop
Linux Consortiums XUL project, we will see how it mirrors the features of
Longhorn and, determine how best to take advantage of this new technology
as well.

Longhorne and .NET have nothing to do with each other.

..NET is here, growing and winning.

It's a sure bet.

Mono is here.

It's a great product.

Longhorn is not here. It never will be.

Why?

Because Longhorn will now be built in .NET.

..NET replaces the OS as the prime library for development. The kernel
becomes invisible.

Linux and Windows benefit.

But most of all, the .NET developer and customer benefit.

 

[Marc Scheuner [MVP ADSI]]

in our company we are currently thinking about to do new project in .NET.

I like this idea but there is another group that has a totally different
opinon.
Yesterday I got the following email, and I am wondering if it is true what
is said in this mail.

This is utter bullshit - pardon my French. The whole Longhorn
foundation is the .NET framework - it might not be labelled and being
touted as such in big fancy marketing hype anymore, but it's the .NET
framework, alive and well. Write managed .NET code today, and you'll
be just fine in the future with Longhorn and beyond.

Either these GUPTA guys have no clue whatsoever about what they're
writing about, or they want to drag you into a Java-based world (write
once, debug everywhere - have fun!)

Marc

================================================================
Marc Scheuner May The Source Be With You!
Bern, Switzerland m.scheuner(at)inova.ch

 

[GP]

Hi John,

We publish a newsletter related to Gupta's products
(http://www.iceteagroup.com/TeaTalk/). We'd like to publish Microsoft's view
about the points raised in the email that you have mentioned in this
message. If you are interested contact me at gianluca#iceteagroup.com

 

[John Timney \(Microsoft MVP\)]

Hi Gianluca,

Please be clear that I am not employed by Microsoft and therefore I do not
speak on behalf of Microsoft. Any opinions expressed are my own personal
opinions only.

Regards

John Timney
Microsoft Regional Director
Microsoft MVP