Developers: MS Hopes To Lure iOS Apps With API Mapping Tool 191
Microsoft isn't standing idly by while Appple's app store fills with software; fysdt writes "A newly-announced service called the iOS to Windows Phone 7 API mapping tool acts as an interchange for developers to take applications they've already written for Apple's platform, and figure out ways to get the code work with Microsoft's standards."
No standard C++ on Windows Phone 7 (Score:5, Insightful)
WP7 is a charm for developers.
Except those developers who already have a library of application logic code written in standard C++ or Objective-C. On Mac OS X and iOS, a front-end written in Objective-C can link to application logic written in standard C++, and Android provides NDK to allow using standard C++ application logic with a Java front end. (It might be possible to use ObjC on Android through GCC or Clang, but I haven't heard about it.) But WP7, like Xbox Live Indie Games, can use only verifiably type-safe code. Microsoft's C++/CLI is a language that includes both Standard C++ and a C++-like verifiably type-safe language as subsets, but Windows Phone 7 will reject any assembly that uses unverifiable operations, such as any use of the Standard C++ syntax for pointers or references. So how does one translate Standard C++ into the verifiably type-safe subset (/clr:safe) of C++/CLI, other than doing it manually line-by-line and then trying to maintain two versions in parallel?
Re:Other way around! (Score:4, Insightful)
Microsoft and Apple have switched positions. You have GOT to know how much this stings executives at Microsoft and pisses off MS shareholders. MS has already blown that chance at corporate with their phone OS by fucking over the 6.x using companies.
Until 7, it was an easy migration path for corps and simple to upgrade phones for users. Now there is no upgrade path, so the door is open to choose another platform. No other platform than iOS offers businesses the control and abilities they need with a standard hardware interconnect for custom applications. Vertical markets are choosing iOS.
Their only chance really was the consumer market and they fucked that opportunity with the Zune and Kin fiascos.
Re:Biggest problem with iOS development (Score:5, Insightful)
Biggest problem with iOS development is that you have to (AFAIK) buy a Mac to develop for it. I can't really fault Apple on this as it's a great business strategy...
How is that a great business strategy? The number of iOS developers buying Macs contributes basically nothing to Apple's bottom line compared to iPhone sales driven by their large number of iPhone apps. The great business decision is keeping the dev environment under their control and making it Mac only is just easier and cheaper than maintaining it on Windows as well. This leads to apps that conform to UI guidelines and leverage all the built in functionality of iOS and are updated in a timely manner to take advantage of new additions to iOS. Apple doesn't have to wait for third party tool developers to add features to support what Apple puts in iOS in a new release. They build it into the tools and in many cases the next recompile of the app takes advantage of the new function. That is what is smart about Apple's dev tools, not some barely noticeable increase in Mac sales from selling to developers that want to target iOS. It's about promoting iPhone sales because that is where the money is.
Re:Biggest problem with iOS development (Score:0, Insightful)
Where do you propose you run the emulator, fucknugget?
Re:Other way around! (Score:4, Insightful)
Blackberry's? Sorry, but corporate clients are abandoning the ship en masse. Market share is dropping and US sales in particular are tanking. The Storm line was il-received, and the Playbook is half-baked. Android app integration is going to kill QNX, just as Windows app integration put the final nail into OS/2.
RIM is about to undergo a major implosion.
Re:Biggest problem with iOS development (Score:5, Insightful)
"Not really, no. Google provide an Android emulator as part of the Android SDK. It's the standard way to develop for Android."
I know Android developers who have bought a dozen or more different Android phones on which to test their software.
If buying a used Mac to do iOS development is too much of an investment, and you believe that you can use the Android emulator to get by without testing across the myriad Android devices and platforms...
Then all I can say is that I'm very, very, VERY happy you're developing for the Android platform...
Re:Cool! (Score:0, Insightful)
well it's better than the using fucking EMACS or VI
Re:Other way around! (Score:2, Insightful)
I hate Objective-C (as do most developers I know). It's syntax is just annoying and awful. It's probably the number one reason I don't do any development for OS X or iOS.
C# is vastly superior. I even perferred C++. Hell, I even liked Java better.
Re:Biggest problem with iOS development (Score:5, Insightful)
Right, you're ditching the most profitable market because... why? The dev tools only run on the OS the phone's OS is based on? The app store paid developers a combined 2 billion dollars in revenue (after Apple's cut). Nothing else is even close right now.
Hilarious.
I believe the phrase is "cutting off your nose to spite your face". If you're talking "as a professional developer" (ie, if you are making your living from this).
For the casual developer just messing about, sure you need a Mac, but you can pick one up cheaply on eBay that will do the job just fine. Alternatively you can just build a hackintosh and see what's what before committing to buying new or used hardware.
Re:Symbian is tha answer! (Score:5, Insightful)
What is Symbian?