Quality and Quantity

If you spend any time reading the tech press, you will undoubtedly come across some critic bashing Windows Phone 8, or Windows 8. The two most common themes seem to be the lack of apps and the lack of a start button. Both of these complaints are simply ridiculous.

Let me first start with the lack of apps for the Windows Phone 8. What are you looking for that does not already exist? If your favorite app does not exist, then what have you done to help? Did you contact the maker of the app and ask them if they are planning a Windows Phone 8 port? If enough people ask for the Windows Phone 8 version, perhaps they will deliver. Maybe this is YOUR opportunity to capitalize on another’s short-sided perspective.

While I’m on the topic of Windows Phone 8 apps, I would like to ask the critics how long they should expect it to take for the development of a quality app?  Do you want some shoddy code expedited so you can have a half-baked solution? Keep in mind, the public release of the Windows Phone 8 SDK has only been out for a few months. A good, quality, app can take months to build, especially if the developers are working on their spare time (evenings and weekends). Maybe we should revisit the quantity/quality situation in a few more months.

Enough about Windows Phone. Let me turn to the Windows 8 operating system. I’ll call it out right now. There is NO start button. We now have a start screen and live-tiles are an added bonus. All of the Windows 7 applications I use work just fine with Windows 8. This notion of a double headed operating system is blown way out of proportion. It seems, to me, some of these critics are overly critical and are grasping at straws for some good-ole Microsoft bashing. Give the start screen a chance, like you did the start button on Windows 95. I'll give you the BigIT guarantee you will grow to love it.

Looking at things from a developer’s perspective, Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 are just fine. I frequently work with c# and Java, using Visual Studio 2012 and Eclipse. No problems. Windows 8 is more stable on my laptop and I enjoy ALL of the little enhancements Microsoft made to the user interface. Windows 8 works great, even without a touch screen. Developing for Windows Phone 8 is also very nice and the new emulator is fantastic. I'd even say it is better than the Android Emulator (and faster, too).

Ok, that is enough of a rant. I hate to be so negative! I’ll conclude this writing on a positive note regarding Windows 8 development. App development is a pure pleasure. Visual Studio 2012 + XAML + c# + Windows Phone 8 = software developer bliss!

Microsoft brought the FUN back to software development!