ObjectSpaces - Lesson not Learnt
Now, after the dust has settled after MS announcement of delaying ObjectSpaces until Longhorn release, I think it's time to see what we've learnt from that.
For a long time, most of the entries in the BlogSphere discuss features that will be rellevant only in VS.NET 2005. Reminder: VS.NET 2005 will be released in the first half of 2005 (hence the 2005 in its name). Meaning: In a bit less than a year. No doubt many features of it, as we know them today, will change dramatically until its release date.
If a citizen of Mars will land here today, and the first thing he'll do is to read .NET blogs (right after making world peace), he won't even know there is something called VS.NET 2003. He'll think everyone uses VS.NET 2005, write full blown application using Generics, uses the VSTS massively, and creating their UI using Avalon.
Hey guys - we are in the present! Time now is June, 2004. Our current environment is VS.NET 2003. Our .NET Framework version is 1.1. Our applications get rendered by either HTML or WinForm. Our source control software is VSS / CVS / ClearCase / Something else in PRODUCTION mode, and our only use of Avalon is when reading about Glastonbury.
Yeah, VSTS is quite sexy, but it also can be delayed until Longhorn or whatever timing MS will choose. Note: I have nothing against MS. VS.NET is their product, and they can release it and its features whenever they want. But, as we learnt from ObjectSpaces, release dates can be quite flexible, and we don't want to look back a year from now, and find out most of our entries discussed completely irellevant subjects.
So PLEASE, write something that we can use today, in applications we develop today, because the customers want them today. I haven't heard of any customer that said: “Wow, this Avalon thingy looks cool. Let's wait with our application until Longhorn will be shipped.”