The developers are revolting - at least, it seems that way if an increasingly fractious thread regarding Microsoft's .NET MAUI is anything to go by.

.NET MAUI (Multiplatform App UI) is Microsoft's cross-platform framework used to develop apps that will run on Android, iOS, macOS, and Windows from a single code base.

It is an evolution of Xamarin.Forms to encompass desktop scenarios and, according to Microsoft, "One of the key aims of .NET MAUI is to enable you to implement as much of your app logic and UI layout as possible in a single code-base."

Neat ambitions. However, judging by developer complaints, it is missing the target.

A recent GitHub discussion thread is a case in point. A developer had to open an issue to complain about another issue not being fixed. "The lack of response to issues IS the issue," was the complaint.

The problems are manifold, or so said the dev. Windows with frames are drawn incorrectly, requiring a resize to be forced to get what should happen automatically to correct itself. Platform-specific code is needed in places where it really shouldn't be, and so on.

In words familiar to many who have had to endure the occasionally patchy approach to quality from Microsoft, the poster opined: "I think 90 percent of the attention should be placed on fixing bugs and performing better QA. I know stuff breaks from release to release and I would think that decent regression testing would catch stuff like this," before thundering: "I have been a developer since 1984 and have focused much of my career on UI design. WinForms was great and WPF was even greater. MAUI isn't even making the charts... "

As a reminder, Microsoft has had plenty of ways of writing applications for Windows over the years. WPF (Windows Presentation Foundation) and WinForms (Windows Forms) are examples - there was even the Universal Windows Platform (UWP). But MAUI is the current flavor of the month. As the company has moved the goalposts, developers have had to adapt to keep up.

Unsurprisingly, there was a sprinkling of support and understanding within the thread. Still, most developers' responses were critical of the direction and management of the MAUI project, not helped by the fact that Microsoft itself seems more excited about alternative technologies these days, with precious few of its own applications using the platform.

The above issue could well be part of the problem. Aside from a team of dedicated staffers within the company, if MAUI's corporate overlords don't seem to care, why should anyone else? ®

https://www.theregister.com//2023/11/29/microsoft_net_maui_devs_unhappy/