.Net, Java, C++, PHP, Ruby on Rails and so much more. The list grows every year and each new entrant has its own followers. Each of these languages/platforms have their own specific domain where they excel, but when it comes to delivering something to the desktop of an average user, which one rules? Is it C++ (for Windows applications)? Or is Java still brewing on the desktop? Is .Net being used to create commercial applications for the desktop? Or are people looking at Rich Client Platform from Eclipse, to write commercial applications for the desktop?
Microsoft used the Windows usage to propogate .Net platform, but is it really being used by commercial applications? Is Vista going to change this landscape a little bit more towards .Net ?
Sun had used in the past the internet boom to make the Duke ride on the applet wave, but do we see real commercial application of Java applications in real world? (Except for those applet based advertisements to hit Osama to win a free iPod!)
What I see is that most of the startups if targeting the desktop are using VC++ to harness MFC and native interaction with the OS. Is this still the defacto platform for startups targeting Windows based applications?
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I think VC++ rules the desktop and even C++ have more than considerable amount of share in desktop applications, even as much as VC++ though I really have no statistics to prove, but one of the reason might be there is some possibility of porting C/C++ to mac and other OS far more easily than VC, i guess konfabulator guys did the same …
But I think after 1-2 years(maybe 3-4) when vista will be de facto standard than you will see change in the trend for sure, as offcourse there are more advantages by using those platforms.