Because current low-code development tools boxes you in and are extremely inflexible. They are walled gardens, antithetical to general purpose computing. JavaScript and Python are ultimately not as beginner friendly as they like to claim to be [0]. Dependency management problems (Python), various footguns from the earlier days (JavaScript), difficult to rapid prototype UI and CRUD systems (both). VB and VBA are tried and tested technologies (the alternative I have considered is Lua, but Lua's ecosystem is fragmented because of the focus on embedding). Their current high popularity is in spite of Microsoft's attempts to deprecate and move users to .NET and JavaScript. They are possibly the world's most successful low-code platform.
Embarcadero Delphi has become irrelevant, SAP is not accessible to most consumers. The newer generation of platforms like Retool and Bubble are all designed with software engineers first in mind when it comes to extensability and customisation; they are very inaccessible to layman if you stray from the well-beaten path. They all force you to choose between a false dichotomy of either pure GUI and no code, or an obtuse API that requires a CS degree and five years of fullstack software engineering experience to understand.
In VB6/VBA, calling Windows DLL via COM was trivial. The entire power of the operating system was at your disposal in a few simple readable lines. I want to make a similar system for the modern web and APIs. iOS's Shortcuts may look pretty but they are a step backwards from the HyperCard days.
[0] The litmus test I use is this: Can I teach somebody from a non-STEM background how to code and more importantly get them to integrate it in their own workflow in an afternoon? With VBA/VB6, yes. Everything is a click away. They had hot reloading in 1995. It took JavaScript 20 years to reinvent the wheel. Good luck explaining even how the packaging dependency system works with Python.
Since Python is the most popular beginner language, I am also inclined to point out that their standard for "rapid prototyping" is Django. Your average Excel user is more likely to throw together a quick app in VB than study Mozilla's "Your Local Library Website" Django tutorial just to build a CRUD app.
In fact what I have learned doing a couple of consulting projects for a life sciences companies, is how many of Excel VBA powerusers eventually get IT to give them VB.NET and carry on from there.
They don't think twice about adding the DLL/COM libraries required to access the laboratory data readers for accessing cell data values.
VBA's biggest weakness is that its open source community and ecosystem is non-existent, so you always end up remaking the wheel. It's just easier making either python or javascript the default franca lingua.
imo that’s worse than python’s largely solved dependency management issues. Most people just use conda and it’s good enough. Is it as good as competing languages? No, but it’s still better than VBA’s ecosystem (including your solution) by miles. That said, I think it’s awesome that you’re still supporting VBA veterans since MS left them out in the cold.
That's a separate issue from dependency management entirely. Check out Repl.it's universal package manager if you want an idea of how we are solving the problem.
Am I the only one who thinks Microsoft is nuts with the whole Metro UI on a PC thing?
I mean it may be a good UI for tablets, but I did not buy two 24" widescreen monitors to run IE in fullscreen. When I use my PC I don't care about active tiles or what's the desktop at all. I have apps to run and work to do.
And I am not about to replace my mouse & keyboard with touchscreen on the desktop anytime soon (if ever).
Simply put tablets and PCs are not the same thing and are not used in for the same purpose. They need different GUIs.
They just replaced the pretty but useless wallpaper on the desktop by a full-screen version of the start menu. Start typing 'wo' and you get the link to Microsoft Word (and WoW, and your 'wonderful.jpg' file, etc), just like in the old start menu.
The main 'revolution' in this Metro UI is that it's a tiling window manager, one that was made user-friendly with gestures to manage tiles. It leaves the WIMP desktop metaphor to an easily accessible legacy mode (and MacOS). Tiling WM are not especially keyboard-unfriendly, nor reserved to small screens.
Personally, I think Microsoft is moving in the right direction.
This is what is called 'Over playing the game'. The user has a problem X, you observe your competitor is providing a solution Y to solve the problem.
Now instead of moving towards Y or inventing a better Y. What you basically do is over do Y and project it as a solution to every problem the user ever has.
The Tablet and phone need a UI that can be easily used with a 'finger touch'. The Desktop needs a UI that can be easily used with a mouse for bulk work. These are two different use cases for different devices.
Just because iOS is cool, Apple didn't start using the same for Desktops and laptops. On the same line Google has a separate OS for OS for net books(ChomeOS) and separate for mobile devices(Android).
Also the market is heading in a different direction when it comes to mobile devices. Its not about selling an OS! Its about giving away OS for free or a nominal charge to sell awesome hardware or ads on your search servers.
UI solves only one part of that problem. And apps? What about apps?
Microsoft simply can't throw out their native program base. When .NET was released, they promoted the idea that it was going to be the Windows API in the long run. But most commercial applications (including Microsoft's) are still written for the native API. While .NET was a success for custom applications.
I expect pretty much the same from Metro. It will be adopted for certain uses: small and touch devices. For the rest I doubt it'll get in the way.
I believe Microsoft is trying to atrract developers to the new interface, but "native Windows" is there to stay.
Besides the whole touch silliness, the Metro UI looks basic & childish... it looks like a PlaySkool or Fisher Price product. The "tiles" looks very simple and boring looking. It looks like a extremely low-level freeware package.
I can't believe they are doing something this bad. From a person who has never used, touched, or even seen (except on TV and online) a Mac... if this is the way Windows is going, I'm ready to switch right now to an extremely overpriced Apple machine.
Windows 8 has the metro UI, as well as a win7 like UI to use with mice, and keyboard.
Don't like the Metro UI, just run the regular windows-looking desktop
I'm afraid that's really not an option if you want to target all Windows 8 devices, as (I believe) many new Windows 8 devices would be Metro UI only. The Microsoft folks already use the word "legacy" with the desktop UI.
In other words, Microsoft means to say "please use Metro, but if you have legacy code don't be angry with us, 'cuz you have the desktop UI option... but not on all devices"
So the legacy mode will be available on both intel, and arm devices, which I believe will make up all windows 8 devices.
'Legacy' desktop applications would probably need to be recompiled to run on arm devices.
You are definitely not. I use Windows 7 primarily and I'd never even dream of replacing it with Windows 8 in its current state as a horribly thought-out mishmash of design principles.
So let me start this one off by saying "developers! developers! developers!"
This isn't Windows 8 RTM, this is Windows (7-to-become-8) Developer Preview where they show off where they are heading, give you a chance to get a feel for it, get a feel for the design-language Microsoft is putting out here and allow you to adapt your applications to this new format.
Because this is really such a new format, you need to play with it to get it.
So yes, this is very incomplete. In it's current state it is not intended as a production OS to replace Windows 7 either. It's a developer preview. It's supposed to bring developers up to speed on the Windows 8 platform and how you build for it.
Lots of people are treating this as a beta, almost like an RTM, and I honestly think people doing that is missing the point entirely.
