Desktop or Cloud?

[Nigel V Thomas]

Hi there.

I'm looking for a bit of advice, this is NOT at troll.

History:
About 23 years ago I wrote an MS-DOS app using firstly QBasic then PDS 7.1.
Over the years I refined the app to the point where 75% of it now runs under
VB6 (GUI interface) and the remainder still under PDS 7.1 I am now gradually
converting the remaining 25% using VB.NET. I use a BTREE random access file
system which works well both under 16BIT dos and 32bit Windows. I do not use
any SQL database or server based software. Networking is via simple
filelocking on a peer to peer network.

My app is low cost. Users just require a regular desktop PC and away they
go. All data libraries are included, no server or additional licences to
aquire. Some features require internet access but the core app does not. My
users are very price sensitive so I have always had to take the cheap option
eg: peer-peer networking rather than Server based.

So, onto the issue. I'm reading more and more in the press and online about
cloud computing. And I'm wondering where that leaves the small time developer
like me who writes desktop apps?

How long will I still be able to write desktop apps? I read that W7 is
Microsofts last desktop OS. I know XP is still rumbling on (2014?) but I need
at least another 20 years of desktop OS before I can get out of this game.

If I'm forced to The Cloud, what development environment should I be using?
AZURE(All my skill is in BASIC).

Broad questions really. I'd like some input from others please. Biggest
issue/worry is the cost of the infrastructure to run my app. Currently a $600
desktop pc does the trick.


Nigel

 

[Patrice]

I'm looking for a bit of advice, this is NOT at troll.

But really looks like a non issue.

How long will I still be able to write desktop apps?
Forever

I read that W7 is Microsofts last desktop OS.

This source is just not credible.

I know XP is still rumbling on (2014?) but I need
at least another 20 years of desktop OS before I can get out of this game.

Actually why to care, you'll just whatever the OS makes available to you and
you don't care where it runs. If you expect things to remain the same for 20
years you likely choosed the wrong job.

If I'm forced to The Cloud, what development environment should I be
using?
AZURE(All my skill is in BASIC).

This is still your .NET language. See
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsazure/getstarted/#windows

Overall I would advice to not overreact to what you read and stop bothering
about a very hypothetical future...

 

[Nigel V Thomas]

But really looks like a non issue.


This source is just not credible.


Actually why to care, you'll just whatever the OS makes available to you and
you don't care where it runs. If you expect things to remain the same for 20
years you likely choosed the wrong job.


This is still your .NET language. See
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsazure/getstarted/#windows

Overall I would advice to not overreact to what you read and stop bothering
about a very hypothetical future...

--
Patrice



.

Patrice

Thank you, your comments are helpful

Nigel

 

[mayayana]

Why would anyone else knows more than you do?

There are at least 3 companies trying to "pull an AOL"
and own the Internet: Microsoft, Google and Adobe.
(Mr. Ballmer said as much in a 2005 Business Week
interview: "We will rule the Web!")

There are at least 3 companies trying to turn your PC
into a service appliance: Microsoft, Google and to some
extent Apple.

The "cloud" fad needs to be highly credible to justify
both of those schemes. Hence the upside-down logic
that's rife these days: the notions that renting software is
cheaper than buying, and that operating online, leaving
you data in the hands of a corporation, is safer than running
a PC that's not locked down.

So where does
that leave things? Can anyone really predict whether we'll
have PCs in 10 years, or whether we'll just tune our TV
to the Google channel and turn on our wireless keyboard?
....Or maybe everyone will keep a screen and keyboard at both
home and office that their phone (with a 20GHz CPU and
4 TB storage) can plug into. And you'll then pick from several
of Verizon's software menus, like the current cable TV tiers.

How all of that pans out would decide whether Mom and Pop
software developers can directly deal with the public, or whether
computing/Internet will turn into a private, corporate shopping
mall(s). ...Or maybe something else, as yet unforeseen.

Can't argue with that. Houescleaning, yard work, and
maybe nursing look like the stable bets, at least for this year.