Linked by Thom Holwerda on Fri 3rd Dec 2010 22:14 UTC, submitted by poundsmack
"In a keynote presentation at the Silverlight Firestarter event this morning, Corporate Vice President in Microsoft's developer division, Scott Guthrie officially announced Silverlight 5, and outlined its new features and 1H 2011 beta availability. Silverlight 5 adds more than 40 new features to the Web application framework that focus on improving its streaming media functionality for users and on improving application development for engineers. Some of the new streaming additions include: GPU-accelerated video decoding, variable speed playback which allows for user-defined, pitch-corrected slow motion, improved power saver awareness to prevent screensavers from turning on during playback, and native remote control support."
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Member since:2009-08-26
He's been critical of .NET's API design in the past. I think he prefers the unmanaged APIs (or did a few years go). Overall, I think he has high expectations of consistency that's an ideal for APIs and too constraining for desktop applications. Despite this (and his licking a MacBook ;-) ), I like reading his articles and comments, and think he's one of the better Ars contributors.
He writes articles that take pot shots at MS and makes it absolutely clear to us Windows developers that his understanding of these technologies is at a freshmen level. Of course if you don't work with these technologies on a deeper level then his articles might seem insightful. Lucky for him the vast majority of Ars visitors are not .NET developers and thus assume he is credible.
Just look at this excerpt:
There's "traditional" native Win32 development, .NET development using WPF and the full .NET Framework, and Silverlight development.
There is a massive "I'm an amateur" red flag in that sentence that an experienced .NET dev will see.
He didn't mention Winforms which is still used more than WPF. WPF is slowly gaining adoption but there is intertia behind Winforms much like XP. When it comes to competing methods of development he missed the stinking dead rhino in the room.
I'm sure he'll read this comment and get it right in the next article.
Member since:2005-07-06
I agree with this.
I've long thought MS should standardize on WPF for Windows' UI. They could expose XAML styles/control templates, enabling super easy customization of the OS' look and feel (and also a one-click way to revert changes) -- even obviating shell replacements. Want your taskbar to be a floating launch panel? Just edit some XAML.
I've long thought MS should standardize on WPF for Windows' UI. They could expose XAML styles/control templates, enabling super easy customization of the OS' look and feel (and also a one-click way to revert changes) -- even obviating shell replacements. Want your taskbar to be a floating launch panel? Just edit some XAML.
I remember seeing XAML being demonstrated for the first time in terms of UI customisation - all I could say was "that is fucking awesome!"
There is also the possibility of having a collection of technologies and XAML glue their together in a particular way for a particular task - where you can have a foundation of frameworks and have the presentation layer sitting on top where you can move from DTP work to Vector graphics then to Photo editing all using the same frameworks underneath with the only thing changing is the presentation layer sitting on top.
He's been critical of .NET's API design in the past. I think he prefers the unmanaged APIs (or did a few years go). Overall, I think he has high expectations of consistency that's an ideal for APIs and too constraining for desktop applications. Despite this (and his licking a MacBook ;-) ), I like reading his articles and comments, and think he's one of the better Ars contributors.
Which is interesting given he likes Objective-C 2.0 which provides garbage collection - so I wonder whether his complaints isn't necessarily managed versus unmanaged but the degree in which something is managed and whether there is the ability to 'opt out' when one doesn't want it.
There is some merit in that MS could use someone who can look across divisions and try to unify similar efforts more often, and work to adopt new technologies more rapidly. MS product teams are treated as seperate companies who are largely autonomous in their decision to partner with and adopt technologies from other teams. While this is nice as the teams should know what's the best direction for their product given requirements and feedback, it can waste time in duplicating effort or adversely affect the platform as a whole by slowing down standardization around new technologies.
True, that has always been my complaint - they have great technology but no coherent top down vision which brings all these 'things' together into a unified strategy. I look at their phone strategy and ask "how does this fit into their desktop and server strategy'? I look at the mass of API's they've developed over the last 10 years and I ask myself why these aren't being utilised from top to bottom rather than being an appendix. Then there is the issue of HIG where ever division seems to go off and do their own thing rather than having a singular vision that all divisions are lock-step with it.
Features
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/21/13 21:38 UTC
At an event earlier today, Microsoft unveiled the next Xbox - the third model, but confusingly named Xbox One. The big focus was TV, integrated Kinect, and all the other stuff we all expected to be forced down our throats. I think it took them 25 minutes to actually come to what should be the core of the story: gaming. Nothing groundbreaking in the gaming department, except for how Microsoft intends to handle the used games market and borrowing games from friends: pay up, buddy!
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/20/13 11:29 UTC
The day has finally come! Jolla has finally announced the launch device for its Sailfish operating system - and by god this is a looker. It's decidedly different from other phones out there, but it has good specifications and carries a relatively reasonably price tag - EUR 399, and it's up for pre-order today, shipping in the fourth quarter of this year.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/18/13 21:33 UTC
Why does Google get so much credit in the technology industry? Why, despite the company's many obvious failings, do many geeks and enthusiasts still hold a somewhat positive view on the all-knowing technology giant? A specific talk at Google I/O this week provides the answer.
Linked by David Adams on 05/16/13 4:23 UTC
OSNews is a sponsor of this year's O'Reilly OSCON in Portland, Oregon, USA. A lucky OSNews reader will win a free three-day pass, including two tutorials days. To win the pass, post a comment on this story saying something about Open Source Software or OSCON. We'll pick a winner at random next week. If you don't have an OSNews account, you may email us your entry. Part of the conference is the 9th annual Open Source Awards, and today the 16th is the deadline for nominations. If you'd like to nominate an outstanding open source contributor, do it here. Read on for more information about OSCON. Update: The 20% discount code for OSNews readers is "OSN."
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/11/13 21:41 UTC
"Windows is indeed slower than other operating systems in many scenarios, and the gap is worsening." That's one way to start an insider explanation of why Windows' performance isn't up to snuff. Written by someone who actually contributes code to the Windows NT kernel, the comment on Hacker News, later deleted but reposted with permission on Marc Bevand's blog, paints a very dreary picture of the state of Windows development. The root issue? Think of how Linux is developed, and you'll know the answer.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/08/13 14:22 UTC
This is one of those news items that's fun to write, fun to read, fun to comment on, and where no one will be able to say anything unkind. It's all just one big ball of awesome fluffiness. TuneTracker, the BeOS radio automation software, has just released something very special: TuneTracker System 5, the first version designed entirely and specifically for Haiku. In fact, it actually includes Haiku in the software package. Better yet, TuneTracker also unveiled several system-in-a-box products - which have Haiku and TuneTracker pre-installed.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/02/13 15:28 UTC
Exactly twenty years ago, a document was published that played a huge role in establishing the web as we know it today. Twenty years later, and this simple and straightforward document is proof of an irrefutable fact: while closed technologies can change markets, open technologies can change the world.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 04/29/13 21:06 UTC
Oh multitasking. That staple of computing that got thrown out the window with many modern smartphones. We got some rudimentary thing in its place - but even as multitasking on phone and tablets improves, its user-visible side remains cumbersome. Windows 8 has a neat implementation, and now it's time Android follows in it footsteps.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 04/24/13 22:24 UTC
They're here! Whether that excites you or not remains to be seen, but the Galaxy S4, which will most likely become the best selling Android smartphone of the year by a huge margin, has been reviewed by all the major sites, and there's lots of interesting conclusions in there - although I think most of you will get the gist.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 04/18/13 11:21 UTC
Nokia has posted its quarterly results for the first quarter of 2013, and just like the quarters that came before, there's not a whole lot of good news in there. The rise in Lumia sales still can't even dream of making up for the sales drop in Symbian phones, and when broken down in versions, the sales figures for Windows Phone 8 Lumias in particular are very disappointing. In North America, Nokia is getting slaughtered.More Features »
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Member since:
2005-07-06
I agree with this.
I've long thought MS should standardize on WPF for Windows' UI. They could expose XAML styles/control templates, enabling super easy customization of the OS' look and feel (and also a one-click way to revert changes) -- even obviating shell replacements. Want your taskbar to be a floating launch panel? Just edit some XAML.
He's been critical of .NET's API design in the past. I think he prefers the unmanaged APIs (or did a few years go). Overall, I think he has high expectations of consistency that's an ideal for APIs and too constraining for desktop applications. Despite this (and his licking a MacBook ;-) ), I like reading his articles and comments, and think he's one of the better Ars contributors.
There is some merit in that MS could use someone who can look across divisions and try to unify similar efforts more often, and work to adopt new technologies more rapidly. MS product teams are treated as seperate companies who are largely autonomous in their decision to partner with and adopt technologies from other teams. While this is nice as the teams should know what's the best direction for their product given requirements and feedback, it can waste time in duplicating effort or adversely affect the platform as a whole by slowing down standardization around new technologies.