Future of GDIPlus Windows User interfaces: which will be the replacement?

Question

Almost all Windows applications with GUI (WinForms or Native) use GDIPlus.

But this technology is quite old, and it shows many limitations.

Alternatives are WPF, or Silverlight, Flash? But Developer Tools like Visual Studio and Delphi still use GDIPlus as reference.

When will this change? ANd moreover: will there be a portability? Like the Delphi VCL will in future be ported to a new technology maintaining backwards compatibility? (for ex TButton is GDI, in future it can be something else).

UPDATE: Maybe my question can be stated as "will future OS render GUI Widgets without GDI+ but using newer technology, a kind of builtin SIlverlight/Flash?"

Answer 1

For native programs, WPF has already replaced GDI+ in my view, but since GDI+ and WinForms have been in play for a long time, it will take a long time to get the majority of developers to go over to this new technology, even if it has a lot of great features and possibilities that GDI+ does not even come close to.

Visual Studio still have support for WinForms/GDI+ of course, but since Visual Studio 2008 built in support for WPF have been there, and is working just fine.

Silverlight and Flash will never be a mainstream replacement for a native application.

Answer 2

We're a C++ & .NET house, and we use WTL for developing GUI apps for native projects. We don't use GDIplus though, we stick with regular GDI calls.

It is a sticking point, and it's extremely difficult to

• Write GUI software using WTL/GDI
• Find developers who can do WTL/GDI
• Train developers to do WTL/GDI

We're currently evaluating Qt as a replacement for our GUI coding, but at £3k per developer seat, it's an expensive option.