Vista And Developers

I've been thinking about what the imminent Vista drop will mean for developers as of late.

While some of the hand-wringing for the User Account Control feature is probably a bit overdone, I do think there is some cause for concern. For example, the Java developers out there might want to check out SE 6's Vista Notes to see what's new. Developers in general should check out Microsoft's Application Compatibility Cookbook for a good rundown on the potential problems and workarounds.

Coming from a Linux background these new security controls don't seem all that onerous to me, so I think the main issue for developers will be how long it will take end users to get used to UAC and the other security features in Vista. Some commentators are worried that Joe Average won't know how to run as an administrator and won't bother to run/buy their applications if it's a required step. What's forgotten though is that there will be a ton of applications in this same situation: at some point if Joe wants to run anything, he'll have to bite the bullet and figure it out or get someone to do it for him. In other words, Joe'll come across some app he simply must have and learning to install that will be the door opening for the rest of us.

Remember, there was a lot of doom and gloom talk when XP's user accounts were first announced too.

I think that Vista is a great opportunity for REALbasic developers (and web developers for that matter), since RB apps are normally self-contained...no DLLs or runtimes to worry about under UAC. If you can tailor your application so that it doesn't require global R/W access, or anything else that runs contrary to the new Vista security model, you might have a leg up on your Java/C++/other language of choice competition.

Speaking of Java, while it's heartening to hear that over 60% of all new PCs ship with a JVM, it's going to be tough to beat 100%: every new Vista machine will come with .NET installed. I've never really taken a look at C#, because Java did everything I need it to do.

(That and the fact that developing commercial apps under Java is essentially free, but with C# you have to buy the obfuscator, new UI controls, etc. For a lot of SMBs that aren't development houses, free is important.)

Now I find myself looking more towards C#. From my experience with delivering Java desktop apps I know that just because "a" runtime is installed it doesn't make it "the" runtime you need, but it's a step in the right direction. Now with Vista's release, coupled with Microsoft's partnership with Novell and its ramificiations for Mono, it may finally be time for me to take a look at C#.

Anybody know of any free C# obfuscators?