About .NET having the image of being not cross-platform, just want to ask, what's the fuss?
When people talk of .NET not being cross-platform, I'm guessing that
what a lot have in mind here, besides Microsoft not coming up
with .NET for other OS's, is the GUI toolkit not being cross-platform like Java's.
Basically, Windows Forms vs. Swing. Let's look at this particular issue.
For me, it's like EJB -- .NET doesn't have an EJB equivalent, but is
this something most people want anyway? Do most people want to have a
more
"pure" cross-platform GUI at the expense of looking a bit inconsistent
compared with the native apps (as is the case with Swing)? In GUI-land,
a bit of inconsistency is
glaring. Even within the Java community, there are debates about Swing
vs. SWT, with SWT leaning more heavily on platform-specific widgets and
API's. And the SWT camp is strong, rallying around their champion in
the form of the Eclipse IDE.
So .NET's Windows Forms only work well in Windows. So what? If you just
want to make a Windows app, and are using .NET just for the ease of
development, then you couldn't care less if it ran on Linux or a
toaster. For Mono in Linux, use GTK#, that's mighty fine. For Mono on Mac, use Cocoa# and be cool with it. So
what if your program is limited to one platform? If you're delivering a
great experience to your users they probably couldn't care less.
I'm not saying people don't need a "pure" cross-platform solution.
Similarly, the persistence and scalability features of EJB are not
useless. Some people really need these features. But if you're using
.NET and you find that it doesn't have these features found in Java, there's no need
to get depressed right away, because like FM radios and gazillion-pixel
digicams on cellphones, maybe there are features you don't need for
what you typically do.
.NET thinks cross-platform is a nice-to-have, not a necessity. And maybe most of the time you ought to think the same way too.
Last Wednesday I had the privilege of attending the induction of
members and the first meeting of the PHILNITS Society, composed of
JITSE/PHILNITS passers. Being one of the more outspoken individuals in
my table, I ended up joining the Working Group which will serve as the
group's core membership, to come up with mission, vision, values,
by-laws, etc.
I think that my membership in this group is complementary to my
involvement in the Microsoft Community. First, the exam focuses on IT
fundamentals, while my activities with the MS Community are closely
tied with MS products. I believe both are needed by truly great IT
engineers. Second, PHILNITS aims to have a national scope -- I think
observing how the org will manage this will give me some learnings
which can be applied to the MS Community. Lastly, being a
Japan-initiated and Japan-recognized IT standard exam, it gives me
exposure to IT professionals working in Japanese companies, who happen
to have a culture that's really different from the culture here at the
MS Forums, which I feel has the culture from American and Filipino companies.
I'd just like to share some of my cultural observations, which I think
can help me and others better appreciate how other people think
differently:
- They're more formal in dress, as well as behavior in public
events. They are more conscious about the currentcontext or TPO (time,
place, occasion) and the need to make a distinction between public and
private behavior. This reflects the Japanese values of tatemae and honne. I'm glad I had the sense not to wear jeans, they would probably have been horrified.
- If they were horrified though they wouldn't let it show. Related to the above, the Japanese are rarely frank.
- The
company is a big thing. Introductions always mention one's
present organization. One can somehow sense how employers are conscious
that they represent their employer (or training center) by thesubtly
reverent tone used when mentioning the company (it never sounds
matter-of-factly).
- There are rules of fine ettiquete. For example, don't put calling
cards in your wallet. Since your wallet usually goes on top of your behind.
- Many
Japanese IT firms here employ engineers to work on software for
embedded systems or consumer electronics. They tend to like open source.