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Ask HN: What do you want to tell Microsoft?

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Re: Ask HN: What do you want to tell Microsoft?

#361

Post by nailer »

hasenj wrote: post #115
MetricMike wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Collaboration with Mono on .NET would be the "killer" news for me. With Java looking increasingly shaky, it'd be nice to have a second "write-once, run-everywhere" paradigm. While this may not end up being the greatest of reasons, a lot of my classmates shy away from .NET languages/MSFT technologies because they're more difficult to develop in Linux. Getting rid of that complaint would be super awesome.

> it'd be nice to have a second "write-once, run-everywhere" paradigm. You can use python or ruby.

He could, but CPython and Ruby are single language VMs.

DN and Java have a larger amount of classes accessible from any language, including Python and Ruby implementations.

Re: Ask HN: What do you want to tell Microsoft?

#362

Post by nailer »

jmulho wrote: post #331
rakkhi wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just really disagree with this: "Web programming, while allowing generally crummier applications" With HTML5 and AJAX technologies a web application these days can do everything a rich client application can with the added benefit of accessibility everywhere from any endpoint. "The biggest thing Microsoft should do is make the desktop king again" .... keep flogging that dead horse with your buggy whip

"With HTML5 and AJAX..." Show me a good web app and I might agree. Your point, for now, is theoretical.

GMail. 280Slides. My favorite spread betting site. The web version of the shitty BMC Remedy app I used at work, which was less shitty than the Win32 version. What do you want? Do you you not think any of these are good apps?

Re: Ask HN: What do you want to tell Microsoft?

#363

Post by nailer »

luminary wrote: post #344
rakkhi wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My thinking on this was that if they bought RIM they would greatly increase their marketshare in those "boring" but profitable "enterprise products". Lets face it the Blackberry OS sux, even v6 is a poor iOs clone and Windows mobile has reasonable enterprise penetration but not great. So put the next version of the Blackberry on a decently powered hardware and WP7. Offer activesync as an option a silver option and BE…

I don't think you have any clue on what you're talking about.

Being rude isn't cool here. Re-read the HN guidelines.

Re: Ask HN: What do you want to tell Microsoft?

#364

Post by nailer »

potatolicious wrote: post #318

Re-work your entire UI strategy in Windows. Seriously, do so now. And do so in all of your desktop app groups (except Office, they seem to be doing okay). Why? Because they're too risk-averse, and willing to let really horrific UI slide - and as your customer demographic has demonstrated in recent years, they will buy into good UI and positive experiences in droves . They will line up for a week before release to get…

+++ The third gen xbox interface is even cleaner. These would be the guys to do a real Windows touch interface.

Re: Ask HN: What do you want to tell Microsoft?

#365

Post by nailer »

edanm wrote: post #50

The biggest thing Microsoft should do is make the desktop king again. This is possible - users don't care whether they are using web applications or actual apps, but there are huge benefits (in terms of what you can do) to desktop applications. This is evident in the amazing rise of Apple's App Store. But there's a problem. Web programming, while allowing generally crummier applications, has some benefits that far ou…

Rather than duplicate code millions of times to every fat client, why not just help web apps be fast and awesome?

Re: Ask HN: What do you want to tell Microsoft?

#366

Post by nailer »

ary wrote: post #332
allwein wrote: post #292

Earlier quoted context omitted.

RE: #1 Have you checked out the XNA Creators Club and Xbox Live Indie Games? This seems to be exactly what you're looking for and has been around for a while. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox_Live_Indie_Games http://creators.xna.com/en-US/

Yes, I was aware those programs when I made the post ("there have been half-baked efforts, but nothing terribly inspiring"). They're limited in that they don't have the same abilities as professionally produced games. What I'd like to see is a leveling of the playing field when it comes to online digital game distribution for consoles. Restricting some of the system's abilities (ala iOS, etc) is naturally going to ha…

Commenting from my personal experiences, great games like Limbo are ghettod off in some indie area, but crap like Dead Rising 2 are in a completely different place - with pictures of a box, like it's going to be mail order or something.

Show me ALL games, sorted by downloads, ratings, newness, genre, and/or suggestion.

Re: Ask HN: What do you want to tell Microsoft?

#367

Post by nailer »

rodh257 wrote: post #342

I'd say try to compile the document with things that are actually realistic. Many of the suggestions here are akin to having a meeting with Obama and telling him 'Shut down the military and divert the money to solve world hunger!' and similar statements that may sound good but in reality aren't going to be taken seriously. If you send through a document to Ballmer saying he should drop .NET, throw away Windows Phone…

Agreed, but I think the few 'replace Windows with Unix' posts have been countered by other posters. We're a pretty mature lot here.

MS does need to realize a few things which may seem radical however - ie, the platform being the web not Windows these days.

Re: Ask HN: What do you want to tell Microsoft?

#368

Post by nailer »

sharjeel wrote: post #51

Microsoft is dumping its rock solid Windows Mobile platform. This is a huge concern for me. It was developed with years of efforts and in 6.5 Microsoft got it much right. However just because Apple's marketing strategy worked really well, it didn't mean you needed to scrap your well built-in well tested platform in favour of a copy of iPhone called Windows Phone. It has so far not been able to create any excitement i…

The market wants touch phones. None of those apps handle touch well.

Oh, and the iPhone is popular for more reasons than marketing.

Re: Ask HN: What do you want to tell Microsoft?

#369

Post by nailer »

kennedywm wrote: post #202
Tinned_Tuna wrote: post #46

The Xbox (bar it's heating issues) is a damn good product. The advertising still has a little way to go, but over all it's a nice package and it is a good user experience start to finish. Similarly, C# is a nice language, but I'm not (personally) overly keen on Visual Studio, I like smaller IDEs (personal preference here!). The main issue that I see is the obsession with integrating everything with Windows. Notice ho…

In terms of strategy, if you're the dominant player in the market, it simply isn't wise to make the experience for customers switching to other OSs more comfortable.

The web is on track to have more apps than Windows.
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