Reader Likes the Switch
Readers weigh in with the editors on Visual Studio Magazine. Read this month's letters.
Letters to
Visual Studio Magazine are welcome. Letters must include your name, address, and daytime phone number to be considered for publication. Letters might be edited for form, fit, and style. Letters express the point of the individual authors, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editors,
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Reader Likes the Switch
I've been a VSM reader for more than five years and a Visual Basic user for a few years longer than that. I wanted to let you know that I especially enjoyed VSM 's recent twin columns from Kathleen Dollard [Ask Kathleen, "What C# Devs Should Know About VB," December 2008] and Bill Wagner [C# Corner, "What VB Devs Should Know About C#," December 2008] on the issues you face when switching between C# and VB.
Too often, developers and authors turn the differences between languages into arguments about why one language is better or worse than the other. These real-world articles told you how the languages work and the issues you can expect to encounter if you switch between the two. As a VB user, it was informative for me to read about the potential issues C# devs might face when they work on projects with me. After reading Dollard's article, I can understand better why my own team has faced some of the issues it has.
I like VSM immensely and have enjoyed reading it these several years, but I love what you did with these articles and hope to see more like them in the future. Please keep up the good work.
Rodney Bryant, received by e-mail
Office and Vista Both Exasperate
I agree completely with VSM Editor in Chief Patrick Meader's comments about Office 2007 and its "detestable, exasperating ribbon with the pared down menu options" [Editor's Note, "Microsoft Opens Up (Even More)," October 2008].
Office 2007 is a daily source of frustration for me at my job. I have had only a little experience with Vista, and I do find the new explorer easy to navigate. Nevertheless, silly omissions like the Run command on the Start menu really bug me. Mr. Meader is not alone, and certainly not a "raving nutter." I suspect the vast majority of users have the same frustrations. As a seasoned Windows user and software architect by trade, I have been consistently advising my colleagues and relatives who are contemplating buying a new PC to get one with XP pre-installed and to buy Office 2003. Maybe this is because they're all going to ask me for help or even blame me if they get stuck or "lost" in Vista or Word 2007.
It's sad that Microsoft, with its vast resources, has somehow dropped the ball on its core products by trusting its younger generation of product managers without some serious hands-on usage of their own dog food. I suspect that their executives would have found these products just as frustrating as we do had they been using them without handholding or flashy demos from their evangelists.
Norm Katz, San Diego, Calif.
About the Author
This story was written or compiled based on feedback from the readers of Visual Studio Magazine.