For the Windoze haters - VS2005

Whilst I know most Engineers avoid MS, I have just started writing
some trial software using Visual Studio 2005 and I have to say that So
far I am really impressed. Until today, my only introduction to 2005
was what has been spoken at the limited number of MS events I have
attended, and the fact that I installed one of the beta versions
(never used). Today I installed the release version of VS2005.

Well, I must say that the install process had me cursing. MS really
fucked this one I thought, but only if you were stupid enough to
install the pre-release beta, which I did. However, a google, and
three links later + a download from MS solved all pre-release beta
uninstall greif.

Anyhow, I had heard some rumours that MS had consulted developers
about what they want this time round, and after having used many dev
environments (many OS, many platforms and embedded) I would have to
say MS have pulled out all the stops this time and produced probably
one of the best dev tools I have ever used.

Now within the standard 8 hours (including beer time) I have for the
first time produced a GUI that even the GUI developers were impressed
by (of course not a fully functioning app), and I am not a GUI
developer. Whilst all controls are relatively basic, all are easy to
derive from. The help is second to none, and google provides a
plethora of examples. Whilst I am not overly familiar with c# (I am a
c++ programmer) I can honestly say that it did not take long to pick
up. What amazed me the most, is how quickly you can throw together a
very professional looking app.

I think when it comes to productivity, MS is going to be very hard to
beat. This is probably what struck me most about VS2005.

However, after all the praise, it will be interesting to see what time
will show when it comes to reliability, support, apllication
performance ect. Whilst a single day of play will not reveal its full
capabilities and pitfalls, i am fairly sure that it will be a good
product.

Having come from an engineering backround, and knowing how much
enginers despise windows (i was like that once) I recommend having a
look at the trial.


Disclaimer: Before everyone starts flaming me about being pro MS, I
still currently develop on embedded Linux apps as well as various
other embedded platforms. When it comes to choosing OS and platform my
foremost consideration is time to market and cost, as well as
audience. So naturally MS always plays a significant part in my work,
considering that probably 90% of my audience are windows users.
.