Will you move to...

[iebidan]

Ok, the main question here is, you already develop in .NET, but now you need to move to another platform, which one will you choose, use the poll, and the thread to tell me why, I need to move a huge project of the company to a new platform (not .NET nor Microsoft) and I want to know which platform should I recommend.

 

[TechnoTone]

The answer must be determined by your reasons for moving away from .NET and the functionality of the project.

 

[PlausiblyDamp]

What is the project? What does it do? Is it web based / n - tier / data driven?
when you say huge - how huge are we talking? What are the reasons for moving from .Net?

 

[samsmithnz]

knowing nothing about your project, Id discount Cobol straight away. People shouldnt even consider this as an option. Java is probably the next biggest option if youre discounting MS.

Is your company trying to save money coding? Time to get a new job i think.

 

[wessamzeidan]

Well, it depends on the type of the project , but I guess java would be a good choice.

 

[iebidan]

Well, the project is, how many of you live in the west coast? well in the west coast the company has a convience store called am-pm, in the east coast theyre called BP Connect, we control this stores with a software developed under .NET, but managers around the states always complain that the software is too slow (and yes, it has over 3 million lines of code and all the information is stored in a central database in Houston), so the big IT boss asked us to look for alternate solutions, how to make this thing faster.
My boss (stationed in LA) suggested that moving the project to a new language will be the solution, I already suggested to create a distributed solution that includes using standalone servers in every store or a local server for each city, rejected. So now I need to make a document talking about .NET or..... Im a big .NET supporter and I want to keep the project in .NET and maybe create a new version, making all the improvements needed.
Sams, no, its not time for me to look for another job, this is just one of the 7 projects I administer at this moment, since I moved here Ive been developing a little, my main role is to administer budgets, people, have meetings all the time, travel a lot and many more things, if I develop is just for fun and because Ive time to.

 

[wessamzeidan]

From what I understood about the project, its slow and to make it faster you need to reimplement it using another platform, which means that other platforms are better than the .NET in terms of performance. I think that this is dangerous, since the .NET platform is the latest of them all and its supposed to provide every thing other platforms provide...

My point is, if another language would give better performance, why use .NET in the first place......

 

[Robby]

They invested time and money to write 3 million lines of code and theyre will to scrap it? This sounds crazy, there must be something fundamentally wrong with the application to begin with, I think they should re-visit the design model and figure it out.

The only viable solution that may come close to .NET is J2EE, read this article and judge for yourself - keep in mind that it comes from a Java shop.... http://www.exia.net/html/app/sitecontent/CGI%20Dot%20Net%20vs%20J2EE.pdf

 

[samsmithnz]

My boss (stationed in LA) suggested that moving the project to a new language will be the solution

This is a common mistake for management to make, thinking that other languages will be cheaper or less expensive to maintain...

 

[iebidan]

Roby, you must work for this company to know that 30 lines or 30 million lines is the same for the management.
Right now Im making a new proposal to create a new version of the application in .NET, optimizing the code, creating new controls, etc etc, but also Im adding the J2EE solution provided by you and a solution using Oracle Forms. And Ill have to wait to see what happens in the following days.
In the document Im considering times of development under a new platform (over 1 year), how much will it cost to the company (OMG the numbers for a new platform under OF or J2EE is way too high), etc etc.
Anyway, thanks for the help and comments

 

[iebidan]

well, had my too early in the morning meeting, and the decision was made, well make a new version of this application using .NET, the Java and OF option was discarded due the costs and the learning curve, there are 75 developers here that know .NET and not 1 with Oracle Forms experience, so thanks guys for the information, was really helpful, specially the J2EE tip

 

[Cassio]

I always heard that Java weakness was its slowness. So I dont think moving to Java would solve your problem.

 

[Denaes]

I always heard that Java weakness was its slowness. So I dont think moving to Java would solve your problem.

And pentiums have faulty math processors and Fords have faulty brakes.

Dont confuse yesteryear with today.

Id say that Java is a little slower to on par with .net depending on whats going on... this is based on some illegal* benchmarks Ive seen.

The newer Java runtimes are a bit faster than the older ones.

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* As we all know (as of the time Id read these benchmarks) it was illegal to benchmark .Net apps and/or compare them to other language benchmarks.

 

[Jay1b]

This is a common mistake for management to make

What making decisions

I know this is largely irrelevent now, but the only language faster than .Net that i am aware is native C. Java was all the rage about 5/6 years ago, but now (here in Britain at least) the number of Java position i c seems to be decreasing all the time, along with the salaries. Mind you i am still puzzled by the company seeking a programmer with 6 years C# experience. I wish them luck, i really do!

 

[techmanbd]

Sounds like the best solution would to optimize your program, and maybe get a consultant for your oracle database to see if they can optimize your DB. Not saying, if you have oracle gurus there that they are bad, but maybe having a fresh pair of eyes, they may see something that will help