Rob Chartier ~ Contemplation...

Totally agree with you there Rob... I likewise like to be on the cutting edge, but the pace of change and constant release of new features is hard to keep up with. Also, I have had the feeling that the quality has been slipping a lot of late e.g. VS 2005 SP1 has 1200 bug fixes. Hmmm... not a good sign!

thanks for pointing out. developers need a family life too, you see. the pace at which microsoft is spitting out technologies, developers just don't get time to "get" it and implement it.

there are many organisations who have not really adapted vs 2005, framework 2.0 or atlas technolgy.

And microsoft has already released framework 3.0

many of these organisations will be jumping to vs 2007 directly.

That isn't going to happen.

Microsoft was already under way with Visual Studio Orcas before Visual Studio 2005 came out.

The next version of Visual Studio is already available as a Community Technology Preview (CTP).

Yes But may be the rest should come after the release of orcus

No kidding Rob...

I'm like you in that respect, but I'm starting to serious burn out on information overload. I don't even know where to turn anymore to even pick my area of expertise. It's getting spread too thin to keep up with the technology as a whole.

I agree.  The "stuff" flying out of MS is full of beta, concept, early release crap that really doesn't help.  There's no way to implement the technology in the production world because it is subject to major changes.

Visual Studio is still woefully misplaced as to who is it's audience. Web Developer Express was a disaster and there is still a huge need for a file based database  other than Access.

Decent support for VB.net is sadly missing in the effort to make a fashion statement with C#.

MS needs to first get products they have working then worry about new releases.  

There's no value to being in permanent training.

Besides, it's much more exciting to know that what you have is working rock solid.

I have to agree with you as well.  It used to be that you could focus on one area (ASP.NET for instance) but now even focused technology areas have a lot of new things coming out.  In one sense it's fun, but from the perspective of a CIO it must be annoying since they just want some stable ground to work with that they don't have to upgrade every year just to stay up with the latest technology.

I totally agree with you Rob!

Come on, we are bearly having time to finish 2.0!!!!!

Regards

Couldn't agree more.  How about 2 years of fixing all the little things that we have to 'work around' also known by microsoft as 'behavior is by design'.

Matt

I'd like to comment, but I'm too busy trying to learn about WPF! And once I learn that, I'll be too busy to comment because I'll be too busy learning about _____ and ______!

Will my program work on Vista? When will that component vendor release their Vista compatible component so I can relearn that as well!

I'm so busy trying to learn new technology, once I learn it and start to apply it, it's time to learn something new!

Amen, my friend, amen!

There are so many technologies, acronyms and technologies emanating from Redmond that make the poor head spin!!!!

Amen -- couldn't agree more.

I've been working non-stop for the last 11 months on .NET 2.0 after getting a relaxed start on 1.X -- all of my efforts have been on my own time, which means I've been the nocturnal developer -- putting in enormous hours in the middle of the night -- all whilei being a parent of 2 young kids. I'm getting really really tired -- but have to continue to be a viable in .Net.

I feel like I'm finally getting comfortable -- but, dread how/if Orcas will put me back again.  The ridiculous thing is, many developers I know are so much farther behind than me.

R

Could't agree more, it's too much... strongly agree with Dee comment.

the problem being is .NET Framework model is so open for ideas.

thanks for opening this issue Rob

My god I hope MS doesn't listen to you.  Don't you remember the nightmare wait that came after VC6 -- I don't want my tools to get that far behind again.  I for one am thrilled that MS is regularly updating their tools and technologies.  

Another vote for you !!!

Completely agree with you, anyway my brain said NO to vista and NO to Atlas and I´m living a more peaceful life =)

I love VS 2005 but we cant use it at work until the Sp1 and I don't want to touch any CTP and something like this, hahaha

This is what M$ made to a DevGeek, too much dude too much

Cheers

Yes, Microsoft has and continues to shocked and awe us all. Soon it will crumble, just like Irak. Notice a pattern there?

Me too, completely agree !!!

I agree ... give me a chance to learn/migrate to .Net 2.0 before I have to even have to think about 3.0

oh yeh. This is so true.

I feel like I haven't slept in two years. One new product release, language re-think, after another.... a continual barrage...

it's excellent but it's so exhausting. make's you wish for a simpler time and so on.

little incremental improvements that improve the reliability, the usability, the performance -- but don't require relearning, complete reinstalling...

evolution not revolution... at least for a few months ;-)

In fact ms has already talked abit about the version after the next visualstudio (orcas , hawaii or what ever they call them). I think they are about to bit their tail on this "highspeed" roll out. I mean that there are still a lot of systems running in com+/mts and vb6 environment. And the .net platform is moving on to fast, In a larger project that last for 2-3years you cant just re architecht it just because ms release a new version, and at the same time you almost must do it since they wont let your stuff run on the new platform or stop suporting it since it is 5years old or so. I'm seriously think about telling my customers to go on the java platform instead since it is more stable and it will still be working in lets say 10years from now. What happens to MS platform no one realy knows , except for BillG that is:)

So, what will it be next??

Not only do we have to do with a new class library .Net 3.0, but F# and C omega are jumping out of MS Research into C# 3.0. MS will make us learn an abundance of new language constructs and adapt to new best coding practices! Wow, i bet everyone is really excited!  

Its at our back of our mind already and we know that we are not going to be able to re-use much of our existing code in this new "more robust approach" towards data access (random topic out of a myriad) for example. It is a little off putting dont you think? Making an application that you can foresee will receive a big strike in your applications main architecture in the next version you will have to deploy.

We say we dont like to think about C# 3.0 but I bet everyone is doing his research around wondering what this is... We all have that bug in us!! Everyone is curious just look at all the stuff flooding out: wcf, wpf/e, wpf, wcf, XAML, Ado vNext, LinQ, DLinq XLinq, new office servers, open document, bla bla bla bla the list just goes on and on and on!!

It will take a while to adapt to all this new stuff, especially when developers have not even adapted to .net 2 yet (me inclusive)

Well guys, good luck, we are all in for a lot of studying....

Anastasios Yal

A good friend of mine once said the same thing about 2.0.  His objection was that most of the Microsoft articles featured next gen features and there wasn't enough attention on the real-world, here and now technologies.  He had a point but, in restrospect, later admitted he was not compaining so much about Microsoft but rather comaplaining about his job and his lack of opportunity to use these innovations.  If you consider that all the new features are created to enhance our toolset as software developers and reduce the amount of work required to solve business problems or provide more robust behavior, its hard to argue the Microsoft shouls "slow down and let people catch up"  I'm sure the Ruby community would agree with you that Microsoft should give up trying to be the best...  

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