Microsoft’s ‘Project Siena’ create Windows 8.1 apps

Microsoft is releasing "Project Siena" today, a Windows 8.1 app that lets you easily create your own Windows app. It’s designed as a quick tool for building Windows 8-style apps without any programming skills. It’s also a touch-friendly way to create apps from a tablet, rather than using the desktop equivalents. Although potential developers won’t get the full power of tools like Visual Studio, that’s not really the point. Siena is designed to create apps that are more document-like and highly visual, with a canvas for inserting images, buttons, shapes, videos, and more.

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Microsoft Project Siena (Beta)

Microsoft "Project Siena" app for Windows in the Windows Store

A Guy
 
Hi there

I think they've got it the wrong way around --develop some apps (just on paper via POC - Proof of concept - method) FIRST then develop tools / methodology for creating the apps.

For example:

While I love using EXCEL and have little or no difficulty using it I could imagine an app that lets people either create or make queries simply by using some sort of decent wizards would be an absolute Winner - and it would certainly help save BILLIONS of dollars, Pounds, Roubles, Euros etc on FAILED I.T projects -- Govts all over the planet seem INCAPABLE of creating even the most basic fit for purpose I.T system.

I had first hand experience of this recently in the UK when a colleague of mine was admitted to a large hospital south of London --Guildford I think they call the place -- anyway an utterly ENORMOUS facility where a poor hapless visitor not familiar with the UK's legendary complex NHS system (Makes the expense of Obama care seem like the amount a bag lady would collect daily !!) almost needs a SATNAV even to find a way to an available restroom facility and I wanted to find out which ward in this enormous place he was in.

Apart from the fact it was easier to find the phone numbers for some of the USA's NSA or the UK's GCHQ facilities than get a number for this hospital - you then had to go through hoops and rings to finally get someone who even then seemed to have inordinate difficulty in finding the correct department.

Now surely ANY High school student with a bit of EXCEL training could easily do a SIMPLE spread sheet -- Patient, Time of Admission, Current location, Released -- just 5 Fields which are updated every time a patient is moved. This could then be ONLINE so most people wanting info could even get it on a smart phone --- Cost - probably less than the refreshment food in a typical staff canteen -- doesn't need billions of dollars and gives the public CLEAR information of what THEY want to find out.

An app which can easily create spreadsheets I'm sure would soon jump into one of the most used apps anywhere -- Maybe I'll work one over XMAS and sell it to the British NHS for millions !!!. Adding the EXCEL data to say a MySQL database for more sophisticated queries also would be fairly simple once the original queries were designed.

I sometimes think a lot of the IT processes are done the wrong way round -- instead of creating methodology for then creating the apps that uses it -- you need to do a POC (Proof of concept) on your APPLICATION first and THEN design tools and methodology for developing the application -- and if these tools can be general purpose so much the better.

I'll bet a lot of people on these Forums have been in situations were a business has bought a piece of software FIRST and then had to modify their application to fit the package rather than the other way around and experienced all the attendant problems that brings.

Anyway happy Hols and New year everyone

Cheers

jimbo.
 

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