Sam Gentile asks "Why don't .NET developers grok scalable distributed computing?".

Personally I have two pet theories here:

  • .NET has brought together all developers using MS technologies, which means there is almost certainly a greater number who develop MIS-type, in-house apps (mainly former VB developers, with a few MFC ones thrown in). Java on the other hand has been most successful at the extremes (applets and J2EE) rather than this middle-ground in which client-server scalability is just about acceptable.
  • The timing of the arrival of .NET was unfortunate for DNA as many people who had just started to "get" it were distracted by the "next big thing" that was .NET. Unfortuantely, as Sam and others have found out, carrying forward all the good practices that DNA encapsulated into this brave new world was not at all easy. All but the most determined therefore just dropped back to the bad habits so as not to fall behind the .NET wave.

Hopefully, though, all the good stuff that MS is doing with its Architecture Dev Center will start to reverse this unfortunate trend. However, there is a danger that the pattern will be repeated, with Longhorn doing to "Enterprise.NET" what .NET itself did to DNA.