Is WPF dead: the present and future of WPF

As a developer for my company's internal LoB tools, I really enjoy WPF more than Winforms. I feel very empowered and, as a Microsoft shop, it seems to be really great for meeting a specific aesthetic and function for my users.

Could I do it in a web app? Probably. But it would take a lot more work for me and I'd be battling compatibility with IE7 (yes, we're still on IE7) as the corporate web minimum spec.

WinRT felt half-baked when I used it about a year and a half ago. Furthermore, I doubt Win8 is on the docket for quite some time.

WPF hasn't been the 'cool thing' for quite some time (ever?), but both I and my users seem to really enjoy what it's doing for us. And that's good enough.

Re: Is WPF dead: the present and future of WPF

#5

Post by ripter » Wed, Oct 15, 2014, 7:46 PM UTC

dotsamuelswan wrote: post #3

Same topic. Different Author. http://greglevenhagen.com/is-wpf-dead-no/

"I was just in a meeting with Microsoft and they’re definitely working on the next version of WPF. Obviously, I can’t disclose specifics, but the fact is they are gathering feedback and actively working on WPF."

He doesn't say it was a meeting with actual developers. Just because a sales/management guy says they are working on it doesn't make it true.

Microsoft has a history of this. MFC, Winforms, WPF, and now WinRT

Re: Is WPF dead: the present and future of WPF

#6

Post by robbyking » Wed, Oct 15, 2014, 7:47 PM UTC

I actually wrote an application using WPF, and what's worse is it was relatively recently. The project was an audio/visual control application, and our CEO (not CTO) made the decision to use WPF because "the Mac fad was in its final days." (Never mind the obvious, platform-neutral rebuttals.)

Truth be told, though, the development process was pretty straight-forward and I don't have anything negative to say about that aspect of the project (though our application was pretty straight forward). The only downside was we deployed the application at a university, where about 90% of students and staff were running OS X and unwilling to install Silverlight on their machines, which made sense; the iPhone 4 was already out, and responsive, cross-platform access was already considered MVP by most product managers at the time.

Re: Is WPF dead: the present and future of WPF

#7

Post by zbowling » Wed, Oct 15, 2014, 7:50 PM UTC

I thought this pretty apparent a few years ago? Has everyone still been on the bandwagon and still developing in WPF heavily? I sure Microsoft is not going to kill it but it's not the active area of focus with RT. It's unfortunate. Friends that develop components have had to go from VB6 (native ActiveX/OLE C++ components) to WinForms to WPF to Silverlight (then back to WPF) and now RT. No one UI system to rule them all. Always uncertainty that it will change. Hell it changed a lot from CE 6.5 to WinMo 7 to WinMo 8.

On Mac we had classic (carbon) and then AppKit (which is arguably the same UI toolkit since the 90s on NextStep but still doing ok.. although feeling a little dated compared to UIKit).

Linux is a cluster of UI systems but at least X is stable.

Re: Is WPF dead: the present and future of WPF

#8

Post by malkia » Wed, Oct 15, 2014, 7:53 PM UTC

All I can say is - Sticking to Qt5 for now.

Re: Is WPF dead: the present and future of WPF

#9

Post by TheMakeA » Wed, Oct 15, 2014, 7:54 PM UTC

mu_killnine wrote: post #4

As a developer for my company's internal LoB tools, I really enjoy WPF more than Winforms. I feel very empowered and, as a Microsoft shop, it seems to be really great for meeting a specific aesthetic and function for my users. Could I do it in a web app? Probably. But it would take a lot more work for me and I'd be battling compatibility with IE7 (yes, we're still on IE7) as the corporate web minimum spec. WinRT felt…

If you have the choice to deploy a WPF app, couldn't you ship something using chromiumembedded to get the benefits of a web app without worrying about browser compatibility? In the past, I've even dropped a CEF WebView into WPF and had the UI in HTML/CSS/JS.

Re: Is WPF dead: the present and future of WPF

#10

Post by mu_killnine » Wed, Oct 15, 2014, 7:56 PM UTC

robbyking wrote: post #6

I actually wrote an application using WPF, and what's worse is it was relatively recently. The project was an audio/visual control application, and our CEO (not CTO) made the decision to use WPF because "the Mac fad was in its final days." (Never mind the obvious, platform-neutral rebuttals.) Truth be told, though, the development process was pretty straight-forward and I don't have anything negative to say about tha…

I am writing a WPF app now, I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing. The issue I see with your example is that WPF as a platform went against just about everything your user needed.

   * Alienate users with a platform that's not compatible with their OS by default (OSX, Linux)

   * Alienate users with a platform that's not compatible with the multiple platforms you may be targeting (Tablet, Phone, Laptop, Desktop)

   * Require an extra step (e.g. Silverlight plugin) for users to run the app at all

That's why the LoB example is such a powerful testament to how WPF may stick around. You've got 'trapped' users (for better or worse) who will likely be forced on the Windows platform.