views:

433

answers:

8

What technologies/languages/applications do you think have hit their peak on Windows platforms, those that are or should be slated for obsolescence? My votes, might be wishful thinking in some regards:

  1. VBScript
  2. Microsoft Access
  3. ODBC
  4. Flash

I ask because we are in the process of setting future directions for technologies and application development, i.e. don't use these unless there is no choice.

+2  A: 

Not sure why Access is in your list. Still used heavily and a good choice for small scale DB.

Here is what I think MS wants to kill... whether it happens or not is a different story.

  1. WinForms
  2. VB6
  3. C++ (for desktop apps)
JTA
"Because it's useful" has no place in Microsoft technology roadmaps, otherwise Foxpro wouldn't have gotten the shafting that it did.
womble
Foxpro is an excellent example of killing something useful. You are correct.
JTA
Access probably fits in my wishful thinking only because I have to support dozens of multi-gigabyte multi-user apps that are stretching the limits of access!
SqlACID
Access is a terrible DB. Might as well use a real database there are so many choices so start with a crippled DB to begin with.
mP
I doubt that Microsoft is interested in having C++ go away, though they might be interested in some classes of applications moving away from C++ (maybe).
Michael Burr
Burr - exactly. I dont think they can or want to get rid of it totally, but I feel MS would much rather everyone move to .NET and C# for desktop and web development.
JTA
C++ is no longer a first-class .Net language - it was too much work to update C++/CLI for WPF and LINQ (I still think it was feasible) as they had to extend the C# and VB.Net languages.
Andy Dent
I dont think the purpose of C++/CLI was to compete with C# and VB.NET. It's more of a bridge to allow you to integrate unmanaged C++ code with C# or VB.NET code.
JTA
Some people originally wanted a C++ they could write .net GUI in - there was a vocal minority very upset about it being relegated to just being an integration language.
Andy Dent
Andy - true, and to be honest, I wish it would have been a 1st class citizen instead of an integration language. I still try to use it whenever possible.
JTA
+3  A: 

I really don't think Flash is doomed .. I'd bet on its future over Silverlight's right now

Scott Evernden
- Shockwave for games is still very much alive.- Flash is being reborn by google/youtube as just another online movie player, ..but I can't imagine it being more than that, can you give examples why you think flash has a greater future than silverlight?
Ric Tokyo
Scott Evernden
+2  A: 

IMHO Classic ASP (as opposed to ASP.Net) and Visual Basic (again, as opposed to Visual Basic.Net)?

Sophia
+7  A: 

I think Windows has peaked in general. The latest version of Windows, Vista was viewed negatively across the USA, there are numerous examples of major organizations in Europe and Africa phasing out their use of MS Windows in favor of Linux, and all of this has come to great benefit of the Linux vigilante's. The worst part is that Microsoft employees some of the smartest people in the computer industry but are usually screwed over by Marketing people.

I expect I'm going to get hard in down rank points for this answer, but I figure its worth it. As a senior/lead developer I wish I could use a couple Microsoft technologies but I'm afraid of pulling my company under the Microsoft tax of existence, so that biases me to toward a company that had a big role in getting me into programming ( Apple Basic, then MS Basic, and then c++ with the win32 API in the late 90's ) which is disappointing.

David
Windows may be on the way down, but if you think the average person/corporation is going to move to linux instead, then you live in a fantasy world.
Nathan Reed
No, I'm not that naive actually. I like linux a lot but its got to say something that my home workstation where I do the bulk of my personnel work is running XP 64 w/linux as a VMachine and a linux slave under the desk for working in c++.
David
+1  A: 

I agree that MS don't support C++ at all well, is this an attempt to create coders who can only write business apps, and therefore don't directly challenge MS themselves?

The other dead in the water is Vista, roll on Windows 7.

MrTelly
+4  A: 

I think that MS Access is not a dead technology/product. However the legacy 'Jet Database Engine' that is often associated with Access is definitely in obsolescence mode. I dont; think MS has released a 64-bit Jet Engine (I know they intended not to, but wouldn't be surprised if demand made them change their minds). Also the Jet Engine is no longer part of MDAC.

MS wants the future of Access database engines to be an SQL Express/SQL Compact/MSDE type of engine.

Michael Burr
...which is somewhat unfortunate, given that none of the SQL-server derived engines perform well as stand-alone (server-free) databases. Then again, there are plenty of databases designed for that purpose that do better than JET ever did, so...
Shog9
A: 

By flash do you mean Actionscript or the platform all together?

Flash CS4 has shown some great potential.

Here's a cool feature tour of CS4

Ólafur Waage
+2  A: 

In all honestly, I really think that anything which has the ability to make this list won't ever be doomed. It's really really hard to retire a technology. Look at COBOL. Everyone says that COBOL has met it's end of days and has been saying that for years and lo and behold, people still program in it, and there are a multitude of production systems running it.

He's another example, my first job out of college was a heavy Delphi shop. No VB and MS technologies are evil. It was clear that everyone in my area and most people around the U.S. were dropping it in favor of Visual Basic, or something more powerful like C++. I swore up and down Delphi was a dead technology and that Borland was going down the drain. That being said, it's clearly in use today. I was wrong. Popular technologies will never really die, or become obsolete, because of their ability to change and because people depend on system which are currently working (look at FORTRAN, I know of some physicists which still use programs written in it). Once a language/system gains popularity, there will always be a need for someone who knows it, and this means that there will always be a need for someone to improve. There are a lot of technologies that die, but that is because they were never popular enough to begin with.

Of the list that you gave, I would say maybe ODBC could be the one phased out, but with other legacy technologies, I think it is going to be a long time. You could maybe argue VB6 is going to be done away with, but I think it won't be long until someone (not MS) writes a new compiler for it and not necessarily revitalizes it's use, but extends it's life. There's too much written in it for organizations to just throw it away. People argue about things being rewritten, but how often does it successfully happen? The main mentality of people outside of IT is: "don't fix it if it isn't broken." That is going to keep technologies around for a long long time. We can say something is dead, but in reality they all will be around for a long time.

Kevin