Visual Studio 11's UI is sharper than you think

[Renew Deal]

Every time Microsoft makes a major UI change to one of its products, users complain. When Office 2007 introduced the ribbon UI, they complained. When the ribbon started worming its way into Windows, they complained some more.

Now Microsoft has gone and done it again. Only this time it isn't Office, Windows, or any of Microsoft's consumer products that's getting the face-lift. It's Visual Studio -- and early reactions from developers are, to be charitable, less than positive.
<snip>

In other words, we're witnessing nothing less than the consumerization of Visual Studio. In much the same way that smartphones, tablets, and other consumer computing devices are revolutionizing IT, Microsoft sees the growing interest in consumer platforms as the key to the next phase of the software development tools market.
<snip>

http://www.infoworld.com/d/application-development/visual-studio-11s-ui-sharper-you-think-187619

[HopeHoops]

1. I use VS10 on Win7. In your own words, how would you describe the difference?

[ChromeFoundry]

2. ::::HERE IS HOW I DESCRIBE THE DIFFERENCE::::

:::EVERYTHING IS IN CAPS SO THAT IT FOLLOWS THE NEW METRO STYLE:::

:::I THINK IT'S HARDER TO READ:::

It's much faster than VS 2008 and VS2010, but then they got rid of all the color in on the toolbar images. I absolutely hate that.
I hope they support third party themes so I can add it all back in.

[HopeHoops]

3. Well, that sums it up well. I'll stick with VS10. Thanks!

I gather that you're fairly well versed in the ancient arts.

[EvolveOrConvolve]

4. I've tried it, and I can't get used to the changes

Honestly, if they don't come up with a way to "skin" it or apply a VS2010 theme, I won't be spending my money on it. The thing is all gray and slate colors with monochromatic icons and text. It's HORRIBLE to use and looks like it was designed by a colorblind monkey.

[HopeHoops]

5. That's called an M$ Developer.

[EvolveOrConvolve]

6. Yep, and they'd started moving in the right direction with VS2008 and VS2010

I watched a video from the Director of User Experience (or some other horseshit title) at Microsoft, and it was pretty obvious that they designed the interface based on focus groups and research rather than real usability testing.

I generally dislike Apple, but at least they understand how to build a UI that people enjoy using.

[HopeHoops]

7. I like VS10 and am an Apple developer too. Cocoa is pretty decent and easier to use.

But for M$ machines, Win7 and VS10 is the best combination at the moment. STAY TUNED FOR TOMORROW'S NEWS.

[ChromeFoundry]

8. Hey...

STAY TUNED FOR TOMORROW'S NEWS.

::: I CANNOT TELL IF YOU ARE SHOUTING OR TYPING IN METRO :::




couldn't resist!

[HopeHoops]

9. VERY FUNNY. I LIKED THAT!

[Ziggystrange]

10. Reminds me of VB 6

I'm older and actually find the UI to be good.

[HopeHoops]

11. VB 6 was okay, but it was rather limited when it comes to large projects.

"Was", he says, while he still has machines with VB 4, 5, and 6 on them.

[Ziggystrange]

12. VB6 is not quite dead yet.

I have one application written in VB 6 that has over 15 million users, and still selling.
I could have written it in VB4. I have not rewritten it in VS10 yet but I will have to soon.
Waiting for more Windows 8 facts. The Windows 7 release was a disaster for me.

I wrote a new version to be W7 native and it was... right up to the final RC, then they removed so many shims I had to rewrite an entire sound module.

Call me a dinosaur but I never found an issue that I could not deal with using VB6, and whatever else I needed to enhance it. It's hard to walk away from a development tool you know everything about.

I wrote huge enterprise software suites with VB6, when I left the major bank I wrote onet for, they had spent 3 years trying to write the same app in Java, C#, and C++. All 3 went over budget, and way over time to the point the projects were dropped.

It's more about the coder than the UI.

Cheers!

Ziggy

[HopeHoops]

13. "I'm not dead yet!" - "Oh yes you are. Now shut up." - "I think I'll go for a walk. I feel happy!"

Sorry. That just popped into my head.

I've been really happy with Win7 so far (much more so than Vista), and it's the first development platform I consider stable since NT4SP6 (I don't really consider XP to be for development, but it's pretty stable too). The big problem I have with VB in general isn't the interface - that's actually quite nice. It has more to do with scalability, creating libraries, information hiding, and a lot of the fun stuff you can do with subclassing in C++ (and C# for that matter).

But the real problem with VB isn't the limitations of the code capabilities. It is the prototyping. It is dirt simple to throw together a beautiful prototype that does absolutely nothing under the hood and some saleshole will start pushing it as if it's a finished project, get someone to buy it and the pointy-haired boss will say "ship it". It's really difficult to get across the concept that it is a pretty shell, like the body to a Ferrari with no frame, engine, seats, steering wheels or even wheels for that matter. All they see is "SHINY!"

[Thor_MN]

14. The old style was to have one C programmer for about every 10 VB programmers

The C geek wrote the speed critical stuff and VB handled the UI and everything that didn't need to be fast. IMO, that gave C languages a prestige that has now become undeserved. C# and VB compile to the exact same machine code and there is very little you can do in one that you can not do in the other. To me, C# is much harder to read and harder to write. I see no advantages to it, yet I see companies moving towards it.