[OT] Windows dying

[Joakim]

On Friday, 3 November 2017 at 14:29:27 UTC, jmh530 wrote:
> On Friday, 3 November 2017 at 14:12:56 UTC, Joakim wrote:
>> [snip]
>>
>> But that established PC userbase shrinking is not what you 
>> should be worried about.  I've talked to multiple middle-class 
>> consumers in developing markets- they would be considered poor 
>> in the US if you converted their income to dollars- who tell 
>> me that they recently got their first smartphone for $150-200 
>> and that it is the first time they ever used the internet, 
>> with cheap 3G/4G plans that are only now springing up.  They 
>> don't use the web, only mobile chat or social apps.
>>
>> Now, do you think these billions of new users of computing and 
>> the internet are more likely to buy a cheap laptop shell or 
>> dock for their smartphone when they someday need to do some 
>> "lean forward" work, as you call it, or spend much more on a 
>> Windows PC?  I know where my bet is.
>>
>
> It's pretty clear from this and some of the other posts that 
> your primary focus is computer users. The work you've done in 
> getting LDC to compile programs for Android is a good example. 
> You want to be able to compile D programs that go on a smart 
> phone because that's where the growth of computer users is 
> coming from. I get that. 100%.

Yes, D should aim for the largest platforms first- that includes 
Android, iOS, and Windows- because that's where programmers want 
to use D to create software for the most users.

> I think a source of pushback on the Windows subject is that 
> programmers are a mere subset of all computer users. Maybe the 
> billions might buy a cheap laptop shell or dock, but that 
> doesn't mean they will be programmers. Thus, it's good to be 
> able to compile programs for that platform, but it doesn't mean 
> that work done to improve the experience of programmers on 
> other platforms is a waste of time.

Of course those mobile users will be programmers too, why do you 
think I've built ldc to be used _on_ Android itself?

http://forum.dlang.org/thread/antajtnvmavswjvcdoyq@forum.dlang.org

Most programmers will one day be coding on mobile devices, though 
I admit I'm in a small, early-adopting minority now:

http://bergie.iki.fi/blog/six-weeks-working-android/

For the majority of devs still using PCs to write code, my point 
was better to invest in improving the experience with D for those 
targeting mobile, rather than more marginal effort to make 
VisualD and others targeting Windows even better, because of the 
different sizes and trajectories of those OS platforms.