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but MS does consider it being good for system-level programming (for instance Singularity Project).

Surprising not to see a mention of Singularity in the article, actually...

The language is good, but the runtime won't work for low-level Windows components for a couple of reasons (many improvements were made too late in the game for inclusion into Vista). Singularity uses a totally different runtime system that doesn't do any jitting and requires that the entire system be compiled with a single compiler. That's not exactly in line with the Windows way of doing things.

And some Windows apps are written in .NET. Media Center is a big standout that ships in the box for many editions of Vista. It's not exactly a small or crappy app.

There isn't even a great deal of that going on. Most of the business code that has been written on desktops over the years has been mainly C++ and Visual Basic, and there is simply zero business case for anyone to rewrite code just so they can run .Net and program in C# and get applications that are functionally equivalent.

Anybody who has moved to something new over the years has moved to web based applications, mainly because they don't need to faff about with the client and all the costs and administrative pain that entails. MSDN magazine comes up with ever more creative ways of pulling in dependencies that will blow your foot off once you try and deploy it to users. At least web applications have had some return on investment.


Then why should anyone else use it?

Who is claiming that cloning your existing programs with C# is a good idea? You now have .NET and C# as an superior alternative to C++ and VB, simply use it if you want.


Such broad claims will always prove false. Anyway, web applications may very well mean ASP.NET and C#.


Then why should anyone else use it? "
What's the deal if not someone else is not using C# to program core parts of Windows?

If you just don't like this programming language or the company behind it, just say so. Less noise.

There isn't even a great deal of that going on. Most of the business code that has been written on desktops over the years has been mainly C++ and Visual Basic, and there is simply zero business case for anyone to rewrite code just so they can run .Net and program in C# and get applications that are functionally equivalent. "

Also gotta love the marketer's summary

Well, kind-of, but quite a small proportion of the development market actually (a smidgen over 4%).

If we're gonna be talking about averages here, Java is the thing that is used the most, about five(!) times more on average than C#.
Source:
http://www.tiobe.com/index.php/content/paperinfo/tpci/

Java is mostly used for the back end of webapps, but there are large number of Swing apps out in business-land (although there are negligible shrink-wrapped comsumer-level apps).

One reason for this disparity is developers asking themselves why they would use C# to get mostly equivalent functionality but limit themselves to only one server O/S? (Mono doesn't have all the newest stuff, but it is good project). Sure there are a few nice language tidbits in C# but they don't outweigh platform- and vendor-dependence, and in fact these extra language features don't constitute the bulk of most development code (they might affect a few percent of your codebase at most).

Funny how I have managed to stay employed for the past 7 years writing nothing but C# code in IT. Along with the hundreds of developers I've worked with. Along with the hundreds of developers they have worked with. Ad nauseam. No one is rewriting anything, but do you not think that IT departments are constantly writing new applications? And guess what they are doing it in...either .Net or Java. Your comment is just way off base.

Sorry, but you are completely wrong. I've worked for a number of major companies where their entire in-house system was written from scratch in .Net languages. A lot was written in VB.Net, which is an absolutely different ball game to traditional VB6, but most is written in C#. I know of very little business software written in VC++ since the advent of .Net, but then maybe you travel in different circles.

I have also seen a lot of software written in managed code that is sold to other parties, be it ASP.NET or desktop apps. In fact, i *work* on a product that is sold to third parties and is extensively written in C# and VB.NET. There's no native code what so ever.

Why not?

Look at SharpOS:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SharpOS_(operating_system)