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Is this something worth learning, just as a side thing, or is this something that may not be widely used or around much due to other things like andruino?

EDIT: I am asking this question to those individuals who have used gadgeteer. Not to see if they liked it but to see if they are still using it in the same capacity when they first started or have they gone to other things, either personally or due to company reasons. So if someone was using gadgeteer 3 years ago, are they still using it to the same degree they used it back then. I gave, in the comments, the example of FrontPage. Even though, back then, FrontPage could still be used it was already widely known that not many newer development was using FrontPage. That is what I was looking for and not opinions on whether people liked gadgeteer or not. I am looking for if this could possibly be something that is already, slowly or whatever, being phased out in terms of usage.

iCobot
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    This is off topic, as it's going to draw a lot of opinion based answers, as no one can accurately predict the future... – user2366842 Oct 08 '14 at 16:02
  • @user2366842 - This is not off topic. People can tell if something is already on the downward path or already being slowly replaced so to say. I bought a book to go over this, from 2013, and the link in the book to download a mainboard SDK is already no longer working. The whole point was to get a feel from the user base as to what they were seeing, from those who have actually used it. Plus there is the windows on device which I do not believe is associated to the gadgeteer. – iCobot Oct 08 '14 at 16:11
  • @iCobot Opinion based imo, anyway: anyone with .NET experience can use .NET MF, gadgeteer is just a framework that makes components "plug and play". I hope it will not suffer the same fate as Silverlight, but there are other boards out there (ie. raspberry pi) which give you more out of the box for less money than gadgeteer mainboards. – C.Evenhuis Oct 08 '14 at 18:15
  • @C.Evenhuis - "I hope it will not suffer the same fate as Silverlight". This is what I was looking for if anyone, due to experience, is seeing their companies and others going away from gadgeteer. That is why I do not see this as being opinion based. I am looking for real world experience as to people who have and are using it. So someone could say "yes, i still use it all the time". Or "we use to use it but have gone towards raspberry pi or andruino". I'll use FrontPage as an example. Even though people could still use it at one time, they knew it wasn't gaining popularity. – iCobot Oct 08 '14 at 18:27
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    @iCobot it does not fit the Q&A format of the site, that does not mean it's a bad question. Gadgeteer is a prototyping framework, I don't think alot of companies are going to mass produce gadgeteer driven devices. – C.Evenhuis Oct 08 '14 at 19:15
  • @C.Evenhuis - How does it not fit the Q&A format of the site? I am asking if anyone is seeing, from their experience in the field, any type of downgrade in popularity or upgrade in popularity of the gadgeteer. I do not see companies mass producing them either but I also didn't want to get into learning something that is a technology that could be gaining less of usage within the technology sector. Especially when a link from a .net gadgeteer book is no longer in use after a year. – iCobot Oct 08 '14 at 19:19
  • I've played with Gadgeteer, and it's **awesome**. Sadly, while fun, as a professional platform to advance your career, it's probably not worth your time. But it was great fun. – Joel Coehoorn Oct 08 '14 at 19:59
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    > `People can tell if something is already on the downward path or already being slowly replaced so to say.` And that is the **opinion** of those people. There is no way to get an _objective_ answer here. It's a good question, but it's off topic. Stack Overflow is for technical programming issues, not popularity measures. – Joel Coehoorn Oct 08 '14 at 20:02
  • @JoelCoehoorn - That is absolutely not an opinion at all. Take the example from FrontPage. That was not an opinion that was a known fact that developers weren't using that. That's why I was asking people who use gadgeteer and used those specific tags to ask people who have used it. They would know better then anyone. So taking that into account is what makes it not opinion based. I am not sure why you nor anyone else can't grasp that concept. – iCobot Oct 10 '14 at 02:30
  • @JoelCoehoorn - I was only looking for something for fun as I am only doing programming as a hobby now. But I still didn't want to get into something that may not be widely used as much as it was. I have dealt with way too many stubborn, pompous a-holes as developers where there is way too much politics that get in the way of trying to cooperate in meaningful ways to learn and grow as developers. I thoroughly enjoy programming and creating new things but just not in corporate/career settings where it is more about "one upsmanship" than actual collaboration. – iCobot Oct 10 '14 at 02:36

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I've asked myself the same question while working on some recent personal projects with the .NET Micro Framework and the related hardware. Lots of risk for opinion as stated, so I will share some observations I've made.

  • The Dot Net Micro Framework has seen the following recent releases.
  • Codeplex has quite a few Micro Framework code libraries: 9 have been updated in 2014, 4 since June
  • I've been ordering development boards from GHI (I'm not advertising so no Link, just providing the name so my statement can be proven.) It seems like when I look at their Catalog at least one board is sold out with more on order and the out of stock board is different every time.
  • I would also suggest that hobby level and professional consumers are very different. The above company has products in both categories. Professionals don't usually advertise their technology choices. They are more about Time to Market and Reliability.

Edit I just found this link. It reaffirms Microsofts commitment to the MicroFramework http://ms-iot.github.io/content/WelcomeAndFAQ.htm It's about 2/3rds of the way down. Basically they are making it part of their Internet Of Things initiative. April 2014 Build Conference 9:19 and 14:50 (mm:ss).

Opinion The way I look at it, does it solve your problem? I might not plan large scale product plans without talking to a vendor about volume and EOL plans, for personal use it's been great. End Opinion

James
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  • Besides your opinion section, that is what I was looking more towards. FACTS about what people are seeing with gadgeteer with their use with it. This entire question became much more difficult then it needed to be. Thank you for the information you provided. – iCobot Oct 10 '14 at 02:39
  • Again, thank you for more information. As it is obvious reputation points do not correspond to the level of help received. If I could give you more up votes, I would. – iCobot Oct 12 '14 at 16:03