Has anyone experience with RemObjects C#? How is it compared to Xamarin? I've read their nice FAQ[^], I just wish to know someones unbiased opinions. Thanks a lot in advanced. :-)

Why? What's wrong with them? I like many of Mary Jo posts in there.

An interesting debate in my opinion. Your opinion matters, please vote or share ideas. :-) http://www.zdnet.com/debate/nokias-android-x-madness-or-genius-for-microsoft/10136242/[^]

Mycroft Holmes wrote:

why would Microsoft build a converter from their platform to a competitor

Apparently, based on the linked article, one cause of unpopularity of WP compared to Android is lack of apps. Suggested idea of that article will cause everyone to target Android. One will think: "Why would I learn WP programming when I can write Java that works both on WP and Android?" If they do the opposite, people like me will choose this new platform instead which I think might cause many apps to be written for both platforms and may solve the above mentioned issue.

I like the idea of WP better. Write .net code and get it converted to native. Same might be possible for Android. I found this lately: https://www.dot42.com/[^] Disclaimer: I have no idea who they are, but that's almost what I had in mind.

I read this insider news: Microsoft could bring Android apps to Windows[^] I wish they do the exact opposite of that; make it possible for WP apps to be converted to native android apps and run on Android.

And here comes their storage system: https://preview.onedrive.com/[^] This seems to actually be their strategy. A unified cloud service based family of products.

Planning to move to Germany, looking for a job there!
Looking for a Windows desktop programmer? I look forward to hearing from you! :-)

Probably. I think they don't care, maybe for them it's only the paying market share that matters. What is left unconsidered is the impact of non-paying users over paying users and the market in general. I mean when majority of people are using Windows, it probably has effects on a new tech user. However, I have no idea, when it comes to predict future. Maybe Microsoft is actually ditching Desktop PCs. I was hoping for more feedback. If true, it sure has huge impact on my decisions and consults I provide to companies about their investments for future. I've heard Adobe stopped their desktop line of products too and planning to move to service model. I haven't read it from a reliable source though. I find such news frightening and I can't find any serious discussion on this matter anywhere yet.

Planning to move to Germany, looking for a job there!
Looking for a Windows desktop programmer? I look forward to hearing from you! :-)

I have read in news that MS announced itself as a 'device and service' company. This model seems to mean they look at software as service instead of product. Latest changes seem to be in that direction too. Office (365) is in the cloud so is a version of Windows (Azure) and SqlServer. There is also a minimal version of Windows (RT) produced for devices which doesn't have desktop. We are obviously at the middle of a change and 'Threshold' must mean we'll be at its peak probably in a year. It seems to me that desktop is going to be removed completely (at least the way it is today). I was wondering how will service vs. product affect me as a Windows developer and also what will be the impact on companies I design software for? What shall I prepare them for and how to decide about their long term plans? What do you think is the end result of all these changes on Microsoft platform?

Planning to move to Germany, looking for a job there!
Looking for a Windows desktop programmer? I look forward to hearing from you! :-)

Dalek Dave wrote:

induction charging

Does using heat energy, count as induction charging? Based on the video, it's not capable of absorbing much energy, so it won't eliminate need for chargers, but still it's cool to have batteries that live longer than a day I'd say and that using a charger that is included in the phone (isn't visible), sounds cool to me.

Planning to move to Germany, looking for a job there!
Looking for a Windows desktop programmer? I look forward to hearing from you! :-)

A friend sent me this today: http://youtu.be/9CCGUMkcbjg[^] pretty cool! I was wondering, when will our android device use heat of our hands to recharge it's battery?

Planning to move to Germany, looking for a job there!
Looking for a Windows desktop programmer? I look forward to hearing from you! :-)

Hi Chris! VERY Nice to meet you here again. :) I hope this feature finds its way to your release catalog, although CP must be a 24/7 job for you already! :-D Cheers!

It's possible. Write an app that schedules a task with the option to 'wake the computer to run the task' then put computer to sleep. Most modern computers go to a nearly switched off state when asleep.

I have already seen such articles and it was clear if my message is read again! I just thought it'll be a great feature, it brings a good order to how articles with multiple parts should be handled, best of all is that it isn't that difficult to implement and the result will be very useful and very cool. Just imagine that information box next to such articles.

Putting 'Part 1 of...' makes article titles too long, plus authors have to know in advanced how many part articles are going to be. I suggest that 'CP' allows authors to connect a set of related articles to each other and also provides readers a navigation mechanism, like a simple box of links to all parts beside such articles. Thanks. :)

Was the gesture useful in decreasing design time for you?

Gary R. Wheeler wrote:

It sounds to me like you need to spend a little time learning how to use the resource editor efficiently for your favorite IDE.

Like how? I have been using VisualStudio from version 6 to 2012 for the past 8 years and I find the job of using its tools to design a form a tedious repetitive task. Even though many times I don't use MS controls just as they are and have custom ones, but still many forms are created using standard controls and thousands of programmers are doing the same task everyday. Have you ever draw a form on paper? You'll not be engaged with details and that's why it's so fast. Also it seems to me that for us (humans!), it's more convenient to draw with a pen than to use mouse and keyboard.

BobJanova wrote:

how would it know whether this control is supposed to be positioned at (305,267px)...

These are details and solution to such nonlinear problems, as much as I recall from university, are Neural Networks, genetic algorithms and the like. I have not updated myself on that branch of science and thus have no idea if it is possible or practical to do it or not. I was hoping among readers someone with such a profession might share ideas. Maybe we could start an open source project together! :)

I didn't see that in the video. Maybe they have that in mind, gotta look closer at that project. Thanks anyway. :)

Planning to move to Germany, looking for a job there!
Looking for a Windows desktop programmer? I look forward to hearing from you! :-)

You're right and that's my point. How come I can often make right decisions if I see a sketch like that and computers can't yet. I thought maybe machine learning has grown to the point which is capable of doing such stuff with good enough accuracy.

Dave Kreskowiak wrote:

it guesses

Honestly I haven't been working with NN and image processing after college, if it's still that immature, then it's kinda sad!

Dave Kreskowiak wrote:

I can "sketch" a form, dragging and dropping controls faster than I can draw one.

Maybe! Most of the time is wasted on layout, naming, resources and stuff like that for me. I think many of such tasks can be automated.