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Hi, this is my first post to the list even if I have been reading you for more than one year. I didn't wish to change my habits but this thread concerns certainly end-users and down-to-earth developers, of whom I am. On 5 Nov 2003, Oleg Dulin wrote: > An MS developer using XAML only needs to learn XAML. Everyone else > needs to learn 20 different XML languages. Plain wrong to me. I came to learn XML and its machinery (XML APIs and co.) but now I should learn XAML and everything coming along. That does not seem like a gain of productivity, especially if it looks similar to existing technologies but not quite the same. It's like learning a new (spoken) language. It's easier to make mistake when two languages are very close (as a matter of fact I am learning Italian and my mother tongue is French, and you can not imagine how hard it is to remember the tiny differences between the both). On 5 Nov 2003, Steve Boyce wrote: > Just to add briefly to Oleg's good points, it seems to me that MS think > very clearly about where their unique value is and how to leverage > that. > I find it hard, and also pointless in fact, to criticise them for that > if they do it well. That is why they are a business and not working on > GNU or whatever. The unique value of MS is to be a monopoly, that's all. They do not leverage that. I would applaud if they planned kick-ass applications based on standard techs, but perhaps they don't want because it would mean that you won't be forced to use Windows. I do not speak about desktop apps but really on services. Some of the features I prefer in XML are internationalization through Unicode and cross-platform design but, sadly, interoperation with other systems is of no interest for Microsoft. For them, it is an economic issue, but for most other users it is a question of freedom or even worst an economic barrier; don't be surprised if the third-world is getting more and more interests in Open Source software. I don't think Microsoft realized that internet became so popular because it was simple to use and understand and because it works with any OS. Four years ago I didn't know anything in Computers but I could enjoy and use it back in 1990 and I only discovered Windows in 2000 (!). Take that with a grain of salt, I do not know XAML and do not plan to learn it anytime soon. But maybe the day will come when I will be forced. Cheers, Pascal PS: I happened to have worked for a major European company in Telecommunication market, and the main reasons for moving to XML were internationalization and cross-platform access. What about that ?
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