The U.S. has morphed into a polarized Red State - Blue State country, with a pervasive trench warfare mentality. Perhaps reflecting this wider polarization, the software developer community is both confused and deeply split on the subject of mobile device platforms. Developer rifts border on the political where Apple (iPhone), Google (Android) and Microsoft (Windows 7 Mobile) developer environments are concerned. The search for balanced reporting can be arduous and painful. Consider Galen Gruman's invective-ridden InfoWorld piece, "Windows Phone 7: Don't Bother with this Disaster." Fact and opinion are so casually intermixed that the only beneficiary is web traffic resulting from posts by believers and dissenters -- a point made by at least one commenter. On the other hand, a self-described "opinion piece" by Don Burnett at least takes the time to walk through the major IDE screens involved in mobile development so that neutral parties can reach their own conclusions about what works for their particular environment. Bit.ly shows Gruman's piece with 2,340 links as of this writing, whereas Burnett's gets only 852. Burnett's piece doesn't pretend to be a thorough comparison, nor does upcoming Paul Thurough's Windows Phone Secrets, but at least they take the time to present the evidence.
Why does it matter? Because software paradigm shifts in computing are infrequent and important. They are opportunities in the making. They offer a chance to absorb teachings from academia, practitioners, quality managers and consumers and do some things differently. It's not about whether the Apple Objective C-based, Google ("App Inventor") or Microsoft platform is better. All three were conceived a long time ago (by technology's clock). Ideally something in some way new should emerge, or at least evolve, from previous projects, whether built by Red or Blue state companies. Something beyond flame wars and productivity-agnostic opinion pieces.
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Mobile Development: Productivity-Agnostic Opinions Abound
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