it looks like the future is leaning tward tablets and carry around

[flyhigh]

will they stop make desktops and windows ?
does any know if ms will make a new basic languge to work on these new devices ,ive tried java its pretty simple
but i was just wondering ,ive been googling ,looks like alot is fixing to change.
thanks all

[techgnome]

Will they stop with desktops and windows? I doubt it. There are something for which a tablet just isn't suitable. Desktops and laptops at least will continue to live on.. Even Apple still makes the Mac and MacBooks.

There are a couple people here that do their development on "ultra portables" (specifically I'm thinking of szlamany who uses a Surface Pro 2 now) but for some of us, that's not very practical either. Unless there's a big change.

-tg

[flyhigh]

thats good to hear ,sometimes i wonder .
im looking into cross platform stuff i just like vb6 over java.
thanks

[techgnome]

That's not to say that desktop development as we know it won't change... just look at Windows... it now has that common metro-modern-ui look across all hardware platforms. I think the nature of desktops are bound to change or evolve... look at the mobile environment, it's evolved over the last 10 years. I expect a similar revolutionary evolution for the "desktop" to happen at some point. I just don't see it in the next 5 years.

But that's my own personal and admitedly biased opinion.

-tg

[Shaggy Hiker]

Actually, I think that the future IS all portables.

I recently picked up a Surface 2 Pro, as well. Developing on such a system is a bit painful due to the tiny screen and keyboard, but it's a very nice tablet otherwise....and there is a docking station available. Imagine a world where your computer, as powerful as the desktop you currently have, is nothing more than the size of a tablet. When you get to the office, you plug that tablet into a docking station and have multiple monitors, a real keyboard, a real mouse, and so forth. When you leave at the end of the day, or go to a meeting, you pop the tablet out of the docking station and you have your whole computer with you. The screen is reduced in size, and some actions are a bit cramped, but it is your whole computer. There isn't any issue with synching between different devices because there is only the one device. You don't have to deal with compatibility between a tablet app and a desktop app, because they are one and the same.

This is the future I believe we are headed to. Google is trying to get there by moving Android onto the desktop, Microsoft is trying to get there by moving the hardware to a place where a tablet is as good as the desktop (and Intel is doing the same), and Apple is off in their own, closed, little world where reality is as they make it. Frankly, I think that MS is about right, because the hardware is already getting to the place they need it to be. Google might also succeed, but they are still living on the "cool" factor rather than trying to make a uniform, consistent, one world approach backed by good development tools (the tools available for Android are not horrible, but they aren't awesome, either).

[flyhigh]

hey ive been looking into software that will change vb6 to cross platform like GeneXus X Evolution 2 ,but it being from another country ,
there only to ways ,learn a new language wich im still tring to learn vb6,it just about takes a photographic memory to learn and keep up with so many languages
im sure somebody out there can write one to cross platform so some of us old people can stay vb6 .
so if anyone knows a cross platform made in the usa ,please shere it .
thanks

[flyhigh]

these new tablets are getting faster so are the phones .

[FunkyDexter]

I sincerely doubt you're ever going to get cross platform support for VB6. That was simply never part of it's feature set and since the language has been been shelved I can't see any path MS is likely to take that will result in it being added. Neither are you likely to see decent mobile development suport - that was simply not part of the landscape when VB6 was still supported.

Also, are you confusing cross platform with mobile development? If you want to develop for tablets you don't need to go cross platform, you just need to pick a particular mobile platform to develop for and bone up on the language that suports that mobile platform. You'll only be cross platform in a mobile world if you want to develop for multiple mobile platforms - e.g. IPhones and Android phones, just as you're only cross platform in a desktop world if you want to develop for multiple desktop OSs e.g. Windows and Linux.

So realistically I think you probably need to accept that you're going to have to move away from VB6 is you want to develop for tablets so you're going to have to learn something new anyway. Then your choice of language should be informed by your choice of target rather than the other way round.

[flyhigh]

i know ive seen it comeing for long time,java .
thanks all

[Shaggy Hiker]

I don't believe Java is the end.

Right now, to be truly cross-platform, you can write for the web. That can be very cross-platform, but the tools are still in a relative infancy, which can make you cross-eyed, or just cross. On the other hand, there is .NET, which has that Xamarin, or some such that is more cross-platform than Visual Studio is.