Monthly Archives: October 2012

.net, software development, visual studio, windows

Adapting the Items Page template in a Windows Runtime app

A while back I adapted a sample application in order to create an app for Windows 8. I am mulling over putting it in the Windows Store, but it needed some work. In particular, I wanted to add a Twitter feed to the front page. There is plenty of space:

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Sounds easy; but inspecting the layout code I realised that I did not understand it all that well at first.

It is based on the Items Page template in Visual Studio 2012, and there is a fair amount going on in that template:

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  • The contents are data-bound, which is great at runtime but inconvenient at design time as the page is empty.
  • The contents are layout-aware which means that they account for the four views possible in a Windows Runtime app: landscape, portrait, snapped, and filled. The “filled” name is a little misleading; this is an app which occupies most (but not all) of the screen when another app is snapped to one side.
  • The page uses resources and templates for its element styling, which are defined either in the page itself, or in StandardStyles.xaml which resides in the Common folder in your project (added automatically in projects which use the ItemsPage template).

It’s worth adding some dummy data early on so you can see what the page really looks like:

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For example, imagine that you want to use a smaller item size that the default 250 x 250 size. Proceed as follows:

  1. Copy the DataTemplate called Standard250x250ItemTemplate from StandardStyles.xaml. Place it in the Page.Resources section of ItemsPage1.xaml (or whatever you called your ItemsPage). Rename it to, say, “MyItemTemplate”.
  2. Modify it to use a smaller size. You will probably want to adjust the bound elements as well, plus change the references to the standard Brush elements like  ListViewItemPlaceholderBackgroundThemeBrush as well.

Here is how the page looks with the space for the image removed, the DataTemplate height set to 50, and the height of the bound Title field set to 20:

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Note that this template is not used by the Snapped view. For that, you will need to copy and modify the Standard80ItemTemplate, or make your own template suitable for an item in the Snapped view.

The code that determines which templates are used in which state is in the VisualStateManager.VisualStateGroups element. This has a Storyboard animation for the Portrait and Snapped views. The way this works:

  1. The default view is landscape. This is why in the XAML there is a GridView called itemGridView which is visible, and a ListView called itemListView which is hidden (Visibility="Collapsed").
  2. In the Snapped view there is only room for a single-column list, not the grid. Therefore the Storyboard for the Snapped view sets the itemListView to visible and the itemGridView to hidden.
  3. When you change back to a non-Snapped landscape view, the layout reverts to the default. Code for this in in LayoutAwarePage.cs, also in the Common folder.

After working this out I was better able to adapt my own page. More on that another time!

apple, audio, gadgets, mobile

Boom time for audio?

The hi-fi industry is on its knees, or so I had thought. That may be true for traditional home stereos; but at a gadget briefing for UK press yesterday I saw more audio stands and stands highlighting audio products than I can recall. The themes: headgear (both headphones and earbuds) and wireless speakers.

As an example, Cygnett was highlighting its noise cancelling headphones and various earbuds, and told me that this is a fast-growing market.

I enjoyed the exotic things more of course, like the Edifier Spinnaker Bluetooth speakers – that little round thing is a wireless remote.

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Even more striking are the Opalum wall speakers, like this FLOW.4810 model, with an array of 48 1″ drivers in each active speaker.

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You can hang them on your wall like this:

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At the other end of the scale, BoomBotix showed its Boombot2 Bluetooth mini attached to the handlebars of a bike; a good way to make yourself unpopular, perhaps, but fun to see.

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Canadian speaker company PSB was showing its high-end M4U noise cancelling headphones

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I had a quick listen and they sounded good, though it is always hard to tell for sure in a crowded room. Neat feature: a press-button remote on the cable enables an external microphone so you can hear someone talking to you without removing the headphones.

Audyssey was there with its excellent powered speakers and docks; search this site for some reviews.

Another company with striking designs was Libratone, showing its Zipp AirPlay portable wireless speakers.

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One thing I did not see much of: old-style iPhone / iPod speaker docks that charge while you play. One exhibitor told me that users will think twice about buying docks with physical connectors now that Apple has changed the design and made everything incompatible without an adapter. In any case, wireless is more stylish. Bluetooth seems most favoured, since it is widely compatible; Android is making its mark and Apple-specific devices are becoming less attractive.

Also worth a mention is Urbanista, which showed its stylish headphones and earbuds, though the focus seems more on fashion than sound; like the London earbuds designed, I was told, to look like cuff links.

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The home stereo may be dead; but there is still innovation in audio. One factor is that almost any portable device – whether dedicated music player, smartphone or tablet – is capable of producing a high quality signal. Connect to the right headphones or active speakers and the magic begins.

hp, microsoft, windows

Will Windows 8 save the PC? Gartner reports 8% year on year sales decline

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Gartner has reported on third quarter worldwide PC sales and they do not look good:

  • At 87.5 million units, they have declined 8.3% compared with the same quarter in 2011
  • HP is down 16.4%, Dell is down 13.7%. Lenovo managed 9.8% growth and is now number one with 15.7% of the market

Key quote: “The third quarter has historically been driven by back-to-school sales, but U.S. PC shipments did not increase, not even sequentially, from the second quarter of 2012. Channels were conservative in placing orders” said Gartner’s Mikako Kitagawa.

Gartner researchers add that ultrabooks have failed to turn round sales because they are not competitively priced. Worth noting when you look at the expensive hybrid docking tablets and convertibles vendors have come up with for Windows 8.

Gartner’s figures exclude “media tablets” such as the Apple iPad or Android tablets.

Of course you would expect a decline on the eve of the launch of Windows 8, as retailers clear their shelves, though Kitagawa says “On the professional side, there was minimum impact from Windows 8 in the quarter because the professional market will not adopt Windows 8 PCs immediately after the release.”

But will consumers rush to buy Windows 8 machines and make the next quarter boom? Let me throw out a few predictions:

  • Kitagawa is right about the professional market. We may see a few Windows 8 tablets show up among execs, but most companies will go the easy route and stick with Windows 7 for the time being.
  • The Windows 8 launch will be fascinating with cries of agony from some while others say it is rather good.
  • Time will be good for Windows 8 as the shock wears off and people learn how to use it.
  • Microsoft’s Surface will be a success and show Windows 8 at its best, though there will be confusion over lack of compatibility with desktop applications.

I am not sure though that this means a strong fourth quarter. Confusion over the new UI and vendors with over-complicated hybrid products will probably prevent sales from taking off immediately. Further, Windows 8 has to compete with Windows 7, which is already pretty good.

Broadly I reckon Microsoft is doing the right thing with Windows 8: reinventing the platform as a tablet OS while keeping faith with the past, on x86 at least.

I have doubts about some aspects of the Metro user interface and expect it will improve in later versions with some softening of the “immersive UI” religion that hides menus and toolbars so effectively that users think apps are broken, or have to click or tap twice when once should be enough – eg the back button in Metro-style Internet Explorer.

Even so, there are a few excellent new-style apps, more will come, and I expect the platform to succeed eventually.

windows

Windows 8 usability: still a struggle for new users

Today I met with a professional software developer and at the end of the meeting brought out a laptop with Windows 8 installed. Had he ever used it? No.

This particular laptop has the RTM (Release to Manufacturing) build of Windows 8 and Office 2010 installed. I logged on with a new profile and put it in front of him. This was good, because Windows 8 ran its start-up sequence exhorting the user to “move your mouse into any corner” and showing the Charms menu.

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This intro was not a success. My contact thought he was being instructed to move the mouse, but at this point in the start-up sequence, the mouse is disabled; it is a kind of pre-roll slideshow.

Microsoft would have done better to show a video of a user performing common actions.

Next, the Start screen came up.

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The user soon found the Desktop tile and clicked it. I then asked him to run Word.

“Ah, no Start menu” he said. Then, being resourceful, he right-clicked the desktop and clicked “New Microsoft Word Document.” Next he double-clicked the new document.

Very good, I said, but now run Word without making a new document.

This was a struggle. Although the new Start screen is called Start, it was not obvious to him that this was in fact the Start menu and he looked for some other launcher on the desktop. He probably could have done something else clever like Ctrl-Alt-Del, Task Manager, File – New Task, but knew that was not what I was looking for.

It did not help that some quirk or bug in Office or Windows 8 meant that there were no shortcuts for Office showing by default in the Start screen. In other words, the Office apps were not “pinned to Start.” I had not intended this.

After some clicking around he stabbed the keyboard a few times which had the effect of performing random searches in the Start screen. This changes the view from big tiles to small tiles, quite disconcerting when you see it for the first time.

At this point I gave him some more help; once he got the idea of typing a few letters to find an application he was fine with it.

“What is the point of removing the Start menu?” he asked me.

I know the answer to that one. The purpose is not to trip up users like him; but nor is it to help him – though personally I do now find the Start screen a better launcher than the old Start menu.

Microsoft designed Windows 8 so that users cannot avoid the Start screen, which is the gateway to the new world of Windows Store apps.

Despite his uncertain start, my victim thought he would be fine with Windows 8 after a few days. I agree.

Nevertheless, most Windows users will have a few painful moments as they get used to the new user interface.

Users less steeped in the old familiar ways of Windows may actually find it easier. I have seen children using Windows 8 and having no problem with it.

Expect fireworks when Windows 8 goes fully public, and more users like David Gerwirtz declare:

… despite the operating itself being a marvel of engineering, ease of use, speed, and underlying functionality — I’m forced to say that it’s unusable for desktops out of the box. Un-frakin’-usable.

He is wrong. Even as a desktop operating system, with mouse and keyboard, Windows 8 works fine. Take the trouble to learn how to use it, and you will soon be just as productive as before.

Those first moments are hard though; and no doubt some will adjust quicker than others, and some will never adjust.

It is also true that while Windows 8 is just as productive as Windows 7, and probably a bit more productive, it is less coherent in its design, thanks to its split personality.

I understand why Microsoft removed the Start menu, but it seems to me the company could have done better in showing new users how to get going. Of course this is an opportunity for OEM vendors to show how they can add value, though history is not encouraging in this respect.

Windows 8 is a brave move for Microsoft; but remember this. Without the new tablet personality, Windows would be doomed to irrelevance in a few years. As it is, Windows is getting a new Start.

Uncategorized

Microsoft’s Server 2012 Essentials: a good replacement for Small Business Server?

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Microsoft has completed Windows Server 2012 Essentials, the kind-of replacement for Small Business Server (SBS) in the Server 2012 range.

I say “kind-of” because it does not replicate the old SBS idea of bundling Windows Server, Exchange, and optionally SQL Server into a single keenly-priced bundle designed to work on one or two servers. Instead, Essentials is designed to integrate with Office 365, online Exchange and SharePoint. There is also an option to integrate with on-premise Exchange but there is no special SBS deal for purchasing this so it will be more expensive than before.

Server 2012 Essentials has the following features and limitations:

  • Maximum 2 physical processors.
  • Up to 25 users, no CALs required.
  • May not be used as a Hyper-V host, but can be installed on a virtual machine (VM).
  • Includes Active Directory.
  • Includes simplified administration console.

If you hit the 25 user limit, you can transition to Windows Server 2012 Standard, but similarly to Exchange, this will not be such good value as the old SBS Premium which supported up to 75 users, even bearing in mind that CALs were required before once you got past 5 users.

When you install you get a couple of options, clean install or server migration:

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I picked clean install. Here is the initial screen:

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Why a tablet-friendly Start screen on a server? It makes more sense that first appears, since you might be accessing the server desktop from a tablet. In fact, the dashboard is deliberately touch-friendly as well, even though it is a desktop application.

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You can integrate with Exchange:

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Alternatively you can link to Office 365, which is what I chose to do. Server Essentials does not use Active Directory Federation Services (ADFS) for single sign-on between the local domain and Office 365, but it does synchronize users and passwords. I asked why it does not do the job properly with ADFS, and was told that one reason is that the base Office 365 “P” subscriptions – which for various reasons I do not recommend – do not support ADFS.

Synchronization is useful but can go wrong. Password expiry for example is a big issue for small businesses; if passwords expire regularly by default as they do in both Server Essentials and Office 365, then users can get into difficulties with issues like smartphones where the password settings are buried. The impression I got at the press briefing is that password policy matches in Essentials and Office 365 by default, but if you change the policy in Essentials it will not automatically change in Office 365 (I hope I am wrong about this).

Server Manager is also present in Essentials. I was interested to see which roles and features are available.

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Missing from this list, compared to Server 2012 Standard, is Hyper-V and Windows Server Update Services.

Apparently you will be able to install SharePoint when this is available for Server 2012.

A strong feature of Server Essentials 2012 is a wizard to set up DirectAccess, which is called Anywhere Access here, and lets users access shared files on the server from anywhere over the internet.

Other interesting features are Storage Spaces, for cost-effective expandable and resilient storage, online backup of your data (though not yet full system backup), backup of client computers, and other Server 2012 features.

It strikes me that a smart way to set up Server 2012 Essentials would be on the free Hyper-V Server 2012. Then you could use a second Hyper-V Server and Hyper-V Replica to have a failsafe system.

But what about the question in my title: is this a good replacement for Small Business Server?

It depends. There are scenarios where this could work well, for businesses that have adopted Office 365 but still need a local server.

On the other hand, this looks like a poor deal for a business that has SBS 2011 Premium or an earlier equivalent and does not want to go the cloud route. Setting up the equivalent with full Exchange will cost more, and the advantage over plain Windows Standard 2012 is not particularly clear.

You can also argue that a small business that has gone for Office 365, having a local server is a retrograde step, introducing a maintenance burden that does not need to exist.

Nevertheless, if you meet the requirements of fewer than 25 users, this is a good value offering with most of the great features of Server 2012 available.

.net, microsoft, professional, software development, visual studio, web authoring, windows

Visual Studio 2012 hits and misses

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A few quick reflections after writing a rather large review of Visual Studio 2012, Microsoft’s development tool for everything Windows.

Several things impressed me. The Graphics Diagnostics Tools for Direct3D, for example, is amazing; you can capture a frame, select a pixel, and drill down into why it is the colour it is. See Amit Mohindra’s blog post here. Though admittedly I got “Unable to start the experiment session” on my first go with this; make sure the Debugger Type is set to Native Only.

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Graphics is not really my area; but web development is more like it, and I continue to be impressed by what Microsoft has done with Windows Azure. You can go from hitting New Project in Visual Studio to an ASP.NET MVC 4.0 web site up and running on Windows Azure in moments. Even if you add an Azure SQL database into the mix it is not much harder. The experience is slightly spoiled by the fact that the new Azure portal for web sites etc is still in preview and seems to be a bit unreliable; I sometimes get an error when logging in and have to refresh before it works. That is a minor detail though; the actual deployed web sites and applications seem to work fine.

That said, it was also apparent to me that Microsoft’s Azure story has become a little confusing. Want an ASP.NET web app on Azure? Choose between a Web Role, a stateful VM, or a web site. Both web roles and web sites can be scaled quite effectively, thanks to the built in load balancer for web sites. Still, choice is good, as long as the differences are understood. It appears that Microsoft is still backing the web role approach as the most architecturally sound; but web sites are so easy to use and understand that it would not surprise me if they are more successful.

Another hit with me is the SQL Server Data Tools (SSDT), once I understood the difference between DACPACs and BACPACs – a DACPAC encapsulates the schema and logins etc for a database in a single file that you can import elsewhere, whereas a BACPAC also stores the data. The approach in SSDT is that a database schema is just a bunch of SQL scripts, and that if you manage it that way it makes a lot of sense in terms of version control, schema comparisons, deployment and maintenance.

On the ALM side I am impressed with Team Foundation Server Express, which is genuinely easy to install and lights up most of the key features of Microsoft’s ALM platform, though it does not handle the full SharePoint team portal or all the reporting features. Cloud hosting is also an option for TFS and that also worked OK for me, though with occasional delays as my code crossed the internet.

I hesitate slightly with TFS though. It feels like a heavyweight solution, whereas most developers like lightweight solutions. I know that open source tools like git and subversion only do a fraction of what you can do with TFS; but they also never keep me waiting.

I also wonder whether TFS simply creates too many artefacts. Work items seem to multiply rapidly as you use the system, which is good for traceability but could also become a bit of a bureaucratic nightmare if you have team members who make every action into a thing that needs comments and deadlines and links to source code and so on.

I guess it is like any other tool; it will work well for a team that already works well, but will not solve problems for a team that is already a bit dysfunctional.

I had not looked at Microsoft’s modelling featurs for a while; I was interested to discover new code generation features in the UML diagramming tools.

I am slowly beginning to understand what Microsoft is doing with apps for SharePoint. Get this: Microsoft is moving SharePoint 2013 towards being more of a service than a platform; you do not build apps on SharePoint; you build apps that use SharePoint services. This means you can at last develop SharePoint apps without having SharePoint installed on the same box as Visual Studio (thank goodness). And you can build SharePoint apps with PHP or Java as well as ASP.NET, because they are calling SharePoint, not running on it. Makes sense.

So what is not to like? There are a few puzzles, like the way Visual C++ has fallen behind in standards compliance despite the presence of Herb Sutter at Microsoft.

I also still find the whole XAML/Visual Studio/Blend thing a bit of a struggle. One day I will open up Blend, Microsoft’s XAML designer, and it will all fall into place as a natural and quick way to build a user interface, but it has not happened yet. I have also heard that developers should find the designer in Visual Studio enough; but at best it is rather slow and a little unpredictable.

Otherwise the tools for Windows Store apps seem decent to me, though I have heard that advanced developers are finding some issues; not surprising considering how new a platform it is. It is a distinctive platform, and my sense it that while there is a lot to like, developers need time to get the best from it, and there is also scope for Microsoft to improve it, maybe a few refinements in Windows 8 SP1?

Considering its scope, Visual Studio was relatively stable in my tests, though I did once get it into a state where it froze every time I tried to debug an application; fixed by a reboot (sigh).

I do not mind the monochrome user interface; I do not like it especially but it is something you get used to and do not notice after a short time.

Overall? Few people will use everything that is in Visual Studio and of course I have missed out most of it in the above, but it is a mighty achievement and still an asset to Microsoft’s platform.

tablets, tips, windows

All about Search in Windows 8: a feature every user has to understand

Windows 8 is a frustrating experience until you work out how Search works. Once it is discovered though, it is an elegant and powerful feature.

A confusing aspect of Windows 8 apps (on the tablet side) is that features such as menus and toolbars are hidden by default. There can be menu bars at top and bottom of an app, but you have to display them either by right-click or by swiping in from top or bottom. There is a philosophy behind this. Microsoft has called it the “immersive user interface”, one which puts content first and hides anything distracting.

Even this will not generally show Search though. Rather, Search is in the Charms bar, which you show by swiping from the right or pressing Windows key and C. There are also better shortcuts for Search, which I will come to in a moment.

When you click or tap Search in Windows 8, you are really in a kind of search centre. Take a look at the following screen, where I have displayed Search and typed “Keyboard”:

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Note that the active search is restricted to Apps which have the word keyboard in their name. However, if you look at the right column, you can also see numbers: 25 against Settings, and 911 against Files.

This means Windows has found 25 settings for the keyboard, and 911 files. If you click or tap the different context, you see the new results.

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Even this is not everything. The column below shows apps which have a search feature, such as Wikipedia, Store, Maps and Bing. If I tap or click Wikipedia, for example, I see encyclopaedia entries for keyboard.

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Bing of course would give me an Internet search. Even Tunein Radio gives me results, and I can hear a broadcast about How does a QWERTY Keyboard work:

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What this means is that the Search feature is a fast and efficient means of navigating the Windows user interface, finding documents and files, and discovering information from a variety of sources.

To get the most our of search, learn the following shortcuts:

  • Windows key and Q: Search apps
  • Windows key and W: Search settings
  • Windows key and F: Search documents and files

These shortcuts save you some clicks. If you use the mouse or Windows key and C to show charms, you have to then click or tap Search, and then choose the context you want. The shortcuts on the other hand get you a cursor ready to type your search. Search is incremental, so often just a few letters will do.

There is one subtlety. If you are  in the Start screen or on the Desktop and press Windows key and Q, you will search for an app by default. However, if you are in a Windows 8 tablet app, the shortcut will search within the current app by default. This is an inconsistency, and annoying if it comes up “This app can’t be searched”, but you can understand why it is designed that way. Otherwise, we would have four shortcuts to learn.

.net, microsoft, software development

Windows 8 discoverability: users searching for search

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I have been poking around in the Windows Store as the public launch of Windows 8 approaches, and was intrigued by the reviews for the Wikipedia app, which is nicely done. Several users complain about the lack of a search function:

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In fact the Wikipedia app has excellent fast search, on the Charms bar:

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The problem: when you open the Wikipedia app there is no visual clue of where to find Search. Even if you have figured out that you need to right-click, or swipe up, to show the menu bar, it does not show a Search option.

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The Wikipedia app developers have done the design correctly, in terms of Microsoft’s guidelines. This is the “Immersive user interface” which shows content rather than distracting UI furniture.

Another advantage of having Search on the Charms bar is that you are just a tap away from performing the same search in other apps, such as Internet Explorer.

The concept fails though if users simply do not discover key functions. What is the use of an encyclopaedia without search?

It does not help that the Charms bar, which is where Search lives, is hard to summon with the mouse. It is OK on a tablet (swipe from the right) or with the keyboard (Windows Key + Q). With the mouse, you have to position the pointer vaguely in the top or bottom corner and wait for Charms to fade into view if you have done it correctly. It is a vague movement with no feedback that you have initiated an action, like a button that does not click.

I presume though that as users live with Windows 8, Windows Key + Q will become natural when looking for a Search function (hah!). It is fair to say though that the UI does not score highly for discoverability.

adobe, google, open source, professional, software development, Web, web authoring

How Adobe turned on a pin to embrace the web (and Google)

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Adobe’s Create the Web world tour – which came to London yesterday – is in the public unveiling of of Adobe’s new wave of tools, the first since it turned away from Flash and towards open web standard, hardly a year ago.

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Michael Chaize is a developer evangelist at Adobe. I asked him when it became clear to him personally that Adobe was no longer a Flash platform company.

“The main shift happened November last year [2011]” he told me. “It happened when we, for the Flash part, decided to just focus on video games and premium video, and invest in HTML tooling and specifications with a team of engineers. It was synced with the decision to stop developing Flash in mobile just to focus on apps with Adobe AIR.

“Now we are almost a year later, and Create the Web is an opportunity to showcase the work that has been done. All the product that have been launched, the Edge tools and service, just started in November of last year.”

The timing was confirmed by Adam Lehman, product manager for Edge Code, a tool built on Bracket, which is an open source project created by Adobe to provide a lightweight, code-centric editor for HTML 5 technologies. I asked him when work on Brackets started. Research started in mid-2011, he said, but “we got the team together in December 2011 and started coding.”

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Adam Lehman

The Edge tools are intended as focused, lightweight product each targeting a specific small part of web design, in contrast to typical Creative Suite products such as Dreamweaver which encompass a large area of functionality; a valid approach but one which inevitably leads to huge tools that take an age to load and a lifetime to learn. Edge is also being used as a not-to-subtle way to promote Adobe’s subscription-based Creative Cloud, since the tools are only available by that route. As a further sweetener, you can get some of the tools as part of the free subscription tier.

It is remarkable that Adobe has navigated the difficult transition from Flash to HTML, and the difficult transition from shrink-wrap to subscription, with so little pain.

That said, perhaps the transition from Flash to HTML is not as profound as it first appears. The Flash runtime was always free, while Adobe made its money from design tools, and as the web become more capable, designing for the Web looks increasingly similar to designing for Flash.

Even the community is the same. “When it deals with expressive web, motion design, we feel that the Flash community can reuse their skills,” said Chaize.  “Being a Flash developer is not just about the language, it’s a knowledge, it’s a culture. Agencies tell me, ‘When I need to hire a motion designer for HTML, I hire a Flash guy.’

That said, HTML 5 is still inferior to Flash in some respects. I watched a slightly jerky animation showing off HTML 5 capabilities and could not help thinking that it would run more smoothly in Flash (of course it was all preview software). It will get there though. This is why Adobe is working to bring specifications like CSS shaders and CSS regions to the official standards.

There is another thing I noticed at Create the Web, which is the extent to which Adobe’s new tools are built on Google’s platform. Many of the Edge tools are made with the Chrome Embedded Framework; the browser used for demonstrations is Chrome Canary, a preview build implementing the newest standards, and if you look at the code you see abundant use of the WebKit prefix which designates features currently specific to the WebKit browser engine used by Apple, Google and others. There is also extensive use of WebGL, popular with designer but contentious because some browser vendors consider it a security risk and it is not an official web standard.

Lehman insists that there is no intention to go down a Google-specific route. “It was more of a technology stack we went with,” he says, explaining that the intent for Brackets is that it will one day run in the browser, in which case it will have to support Mozilla, Opera and Microsoft browsers as well.

The reason for adopting so much Google stuff is partly the excellent fit with what Adobe needed, and partly the low friction. “We didn’t have to go to a meeting, it was just published” said Lehman, referring to the Chromium Embedded Framework which let you run HTML5 applications on the desktop.

Brackets looks great, has real community adoption already, and Adobe has interesting plan for its future. Along with browser hosting, Lehman talks about proper debugging support with breakpoint, JavaScript macros, an embedded node.js engine, and more.

When Apple rejected Flash in iOS it put Adobe in a difficult spot – another reason for the company’s warmth towards Google and Android – but since then the transition has been remarkable.

microsoft, mobile, software development, windows

Appcelerator mobile developer survey shows Windows 8 progress, uncertainty

Cross-platform mobile tools vendor Appcelerator has released its latest mobile developer survey (in conjunction with IDC) representing the views of around 5,500 developers using its tools.

It is worth a read this time around. I was particularly interested to see what Appcelerator developers think of Windows 8, launching later this month. There is a chart showing the percentage of developers who are “very interested” in developing for various mobile platforms, and which shows Apple iOS leading at 85%/83% for iPhone and iPad, Android next, then HTML5, and then Windows 8 Tablets at 33% – already ahead of Windows Phone as well as Amazon and RIM devices (RIM has declined from 40% in January 2011).

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The report says that potential Windows 8 developers are most interested in the “shared development capabilities between desktop and tablet promised by Microsoft with the launch of Windows 8.” I am not sure exactly what this means, and of course surveys like this are broad-brush and different developers will have meant different things. It could be about code sharing between desktop applications and Windows Runtime (WinRT) apps. It could be about the ability to run WinRT apps on the desktop as well as the tablet. It could be about Visual Studio and its ability to target multiple Windows platforms. However, the the survey goes on to talk about a “single paradigm for both desktop and tablet/smartphone applications” which seems to look forward to a future Windows where desktop applications really are legacy.

There is also a note that there were as many developers convinced that they will not be building apps for Windows 8 or Windows phone, as those who were.

What really counts is in the next paragraph in the report:

A large installed base of devices was the #1 criterion for 53% of developers when asked about why they choose to develop on a platform

This is the simple truth, which is why Microsoft has chosen a strategy which puts WinRT on every Windows 8 box whether or not it is really wanted.

The report also states that developers are dissatisfied with HTML5 for mobile applications, in terms of monetization, security, fragmentation, performance, and more. I suggest not taking too much account of this since Appcelerator’s Titanium tool is an alternative to HTML for mobile apps, so will have attracted those who do not want to use HTML5.

Finally, there is a fun section on what devices developers think they will be targeting in 2015. Televisions head the list, followed by connected cars. Most intriguing though are the final two: foldable screens and Google Glass. Apparently 67.1% believe Google Glass is in their future. Surveys, always entertaining but given the volatility of the results, not something you can rely on as a predictor.