Ok, for those who have been keeping up with Mike Gunderloy this is old news but I just ran across it. Mike is one of the most prolific writer/developers I know and one of those rare breed that can evidently learn new technologies in no time flat.
Mike has been working with Microsoft technologies for about fifteen years, but it seems he’s gotten fed up with Microsoft. Even though he is continuing his blog of links to info and tools of interest to .NET developers at The Daily Grind, he has started a new blog named A Fresh Cup where he explores his search for an alternative development platform.
Here is an except of his initial post:
…I’ve spent the bulk of the last fifteen years developing some amount of reputation and expertise in the Microsoft universe…
Unfortunately, over that time I’ve also come to the conclusion that, even though it is staffed largely by smart and ethical people, Microsoft itself represents a grave threat to the future of software development through its increasing inclination to stifle competition through legal shenanigans….
…I can’t afford to just walk out on a career that brings in good money. But I rather desperately want to find an alternative. This blog will record some of my explorations as I hunt around in other corners of the software world, trying to decide if there’s a viable business plan for me that can include weaning myself off of Microsoft software.
So it seems like I’m not the only one who has gotten frustrated with Microsoft as of late.
You are not the only one!!! Welcome to the club! :) Take a look at these fine .NET developers looking elsewhere:
http://dotnetaddict.dotnetdevelopersjournal.com/cocoa_wpf_bindings.htm
http://www.softiesonrails.com/2006/8/21/rails-is-officially-life-changing
http://peterwright.blogspot.com/2006/09/good-bye-microsoft-pete-has-now-left.html
;)
Adrian: Thanks for the list. Especially that last one (over 50 pages of comments!!!)
Hi Mike, thanks for your comments on my blog!
Here’s another ex-Microsoftie going to Google:
http://blogs.technet.com/david_bennett/archive/2007/04/09/google.aspx
(David Bennett, who worked in the parental control feature of Vista)
I will tell you of how in the last two weeks I have had too many problems to count!!!!!!! Now, I am going to remind you that I am merely a xbox 360 consumer and am in fact not of a legal manner. I have had TERRIBLE problems in the last few weeks and I am VERY ANGRY. To start off, I was simply playing a arcade game when an friend sent me a request to join his party. I tried and failed and realized that I had strict nat. Frustrated I went online to try to solve my problem. I followed a guide for 5 HOURS and through much frustration, and finally opened my nat so that I COULD MERELY JOIN OTHERS PARTYS. I attempted but still I could not join. I checked my network settings and ran connection tests which READ AN OPEN NAT, but I stilll could not join. I then sought professional help and navigated to their website for technical support. After failing to contact an xbox adivsor, WHO NEVER APPEARED, I called customer support. After a few minutes someone ansered my call and decided to contact his administrator. Telling me music would play while he contacted someone, a wierd repeating voice told me not to hang up the phone instead. WHAT IS GOING ON? After 5 minutes, thankfully, he returned and told me a spring update was in effect and that diffrent gamers recieved the update at diffrent times. NOw I have to wait 3 – 8 days in order to interact with others. To make matters worse I then discovered that my digital rights management changed because of my purchase of a new 360. NOW I HAVE TO REDOWNLOAD ALL OF MY CONTENT FROM OVER THE PAST 4 YEARS BACK ONTO MY NEW XBOX!!! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU MICROSOFT!!!!!!