Microsoft "BUILD" begins tomorrow (9/13/11)

I don't doubt that there will be some neat things come of it, but they'll quickly be copied and won't be so unique. That's the nature of software, and as things should be.

Microsoft is famous for 'Developers, developers, developers!' but there's an unspoken "but only if they only program for Windows" there, too. None of MS's tools are cross-platform. You can't take anything you write with their tools and port it to OSX or Linux easily. (Not that the others aren't guilty of this, too, mind you.)

This vendor lock-in is why Windows keeps losing popularity, I think. Of course, OSX's slick interfaces and guildlines for apps provide strong incentive to switch, too. I'd like to see Linux push these as well.

I'm already at a point where I don't care what the OS is, so long as the keymaps for my favorite programs are the same. (GVIM, I'm looking at you. I need to spend more time trying to make it MVIM-like.)

Oh, and if cross-platform software worked well, too. Node, Ruby, etc all seem to be a hassle on Windows, where they are a breeze on Linux and OSX... Partly because the shells are so much better than Windows'.

why the negativity? Windows phone 7 is late to the game, but it brings new ideas. Win 8 could do the same...