I am comfortable with both Java and C#. Both with Eclipse and VisualStudio. So except I'll have to annoy people with installing Silverlight, is there something that should make me use GWT instead?
A:
GWT is JavaScript, and JavaScript is a standard. If someone wanted to drastically change JavaScript, they'd have a hell of a time doing it. Furthermore, GWT is open-source, so you can tell what they're doing and how they're doing it, if you have the time and inclination to investigate.
Silverlight is closed-source and proprietary, and as such is completely at the whim of one company, Microsoft. If you trust Microsoft not to drastically change the inner workings of Silverlight in a way that negatively effects your development, then this might not matter. But I personally don't.
Also, as you said, Silverlight requires a plug-in to use, which will be annoying to users not only the first time they have to download the plug-in, but also any time they have to update it to use new features, forever.
Jason Hall
2010-04-24 20:56:22
Sounds reasonable. Any alternative for building RIA and not make user to install crap and use Java/C# ?
Jacob
2010-04-24 20:59:47
You could always write your browser-side code in regular ol' JavaScript, which would probably be easier if you use a framework like jQuery, Prototype, YUI, ExtJS, etc.
Jason Hall
2010-04-24 21:04:21
well jQuery does not use Java, does it? :)Actually GWT will save me messing with JS (that's why I intend to use GWT or Silverlight)
Jacob
2010-04-24 21:11:20
Right, AFAIK GWT is the only RIA framework that doesn't require a plug-in and allows you to write the app in Java or C#
Jason Hall
2010-04-24 21:13:40