Nick pointed out yet another "VS vs. BDS" thread on Joel on Software. For some reason, I find these "what programming tool should I use?" threads interesting reading. It's almost like asking, "Hey, I'm looking for a new religion and I'm considering Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. Which is best?" Anyway, having worked on the development teams for Borland Delphi/C++Builder as well as MS Visual C++, I think I have some reasonably informed opinions on the topic of Windows dev tools. As interesting as the conversation is, though, I'm sometimes surprised at some of the misconceptions folks have about developer tools and the people who make them. For example, this quote kinda got my goat:
"There's really not much to hold on to and be passionate about when it comes to Microsoft products. Microsoft products, by nature of their corporate culture, which comes all the way from Steve Ballmer/Bill Gates down to the developers, are very uninspiring, boring and lacking style."
It's fun to beat up on the big guy, but to say that Microsoft employees are not deeply passionate about what they do has no basis in reality. I've worked at several software companies in my career, and Microsoft employees are among the most passionate about what they do. Now, if you're personally bored and uninspired by Microsoft products, that's an opinion that you have every right to hold, and I hope we can change your mind over time. However, to say that you're not inspired by Microsoft products so therefore people at Microsoft lack passion for their work is not a logical argument. I'm personally not passionate about stock car racing, but I recognize that other people are, notably those that do it for a living.
Regarding our leaders, I personally am inspired to work for people like Bill and Steve. And, yes, Bill is indeed a low-key guy, and while Steve gets accused of many things, being boring or lacking style isn't usually among them. :)
At any rate, it's hard to get passionate about the market leader; I understand that. People love an underdog, and It's much easier to get charged up about some upstart company with a cool, little technology. Still, I guarantee you that everyone in Building 41 is on a mission to build tools that delight software developers. Is there something you think would could do better that would make you more passionate about Visual C++?
The compiler is world class.
Please use an external build system for building C++ apps. Visual Studio as a build tool is horrible.
sohail,
I'd much prefer to invest in improving our build tools so that they do meets your needs rather than spending time trying to accommodate other build systems. What is it you want to accomplish that's not working for you?
Thanks,
-steve
The team needs your help debugging the new Visual Studio 2005 Service Pack 1 Beta . I've written about
> Now, if you're personally bored and uninspired by
> Microsoft products, that's an opinion that you have every
> right to hold, and I hope we can change your mind over
> time.
OK, you asked for it, you got it.
When Windows destroys the entire contents of a hard disk partition (or in the case of Vista the partition table of a hard disk) I feel great passion. When Microsoft issues its usual demands for paid support incidents in order to even allow submission of a bug report I feel greater passion. When Microsoft allows bug reports but responds with the usual lies (especially in the case of Vista) I feel even greater passion.
I get passionate about every BSOD.
I get passionate about every crash of Visual Studio 2005.
I get passionate about every crash of Word 2000. When Microsoft says that Microsoft's recommended solution is to buy a grade to a newer version, I get more passionate.
When I read that no version of Visual Studio will run correctly on Vista (and some won't run at all) oddly I do not get passionate about that. When I remember that the next time I buy a computer I'm going to be buying another copy of Windows and it will be a version that Visual Studio doesn't run on and Explorer will display my files oddly, I get moderately passionate. When I remember that I recently renewed an MSDN subscription I almost get more passionate, but due to having straight tendencies I don't get any benefit out of kicking myself in the ass.
Wow, I didn't even know how inspired I was. OK, let's take a safer tangent.
> Hey, I'm looking for a new religion and I'm considering
> Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. Which is best?
If you're going to Northern Ireland you'd better avoid Christianity because no matter which version you select someone's going to kill you for it.
If you're going to Israel you'd better avoid Judaism because no matter which version you select someone's going to kill you for it.
If you're going to Iraq you'd better avoid Islam because no matter which version you select someone's going to kill you for it.
Wow, that was easy. Next?
To: Norman Diamond
Why is that nearly most microsoft software from vista's installation to word and visual studio "crash" on your* computer. Seriously, have you ever thought about it.
Anyways, not here to start a fired up debate and spoil Texblog... just saying that just because you have problems and biases for microsoft wouldnt let microsoft down. Word will still remain a good strong word processing software used and loved by many. Vista will make its way through to more desktops than you can count, and there are more developers using visual studio 2005 and helping microsoft impprove it than those trying to crash it just to proove that microsoft sucks. (and yes, install VS SP1)