HTML5 vs. Apps: Where The Debate Stands Now, And Why It Matters

http://www.businessinsider.com/html5-vs-native-apps-debate-2013-7

BI Intelligence

An HTML5 app is housed on the Web and runs inside a mobile browser. Unlike apps built specifically for Apple devices or Google's Android operating system, it does not need to be built from scratch for each OS. The promise is that it can be "write once, run anywhere."

It's true: In many cases, HTML5 can work just as well as a native approach. But it is not the silver bullet it is often made out to be, for several reasons. HTML5 faces a fragmentation issue of its own, since there are gaps in the range of HTML5 app features supported by the different mobile browsers.

So where are we in the HTML5 vs. native apps debate? 

A recent report from BI Intelligence analyzes this very question.

In the report, we do a head-to-head comparison of the two, explain the specific reasons why HTML5 has a long term edge over native apps for mobile development, analyze the barriers to HTML5 as a development tool and explain how HTML5 is starting to overcome them, look at the current state of the performance gap between HTML5 and native apps, and get the developer's perspective through interviews with HTML5 skeptics, early adopters, and HTML5 pioneers and advocates.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/html5-vs-native-apps-debate-2013-7#ixzz2Z5rrVSL3

Inside The Rise Of Responsive Design And Its Pros And Cons As A Mobile Strategy

http://www.businessinsider.com/rise-of-responsive-design-pros-and-cons-2013-6

BI Intelligence

Responsive design, a technology that stretches or shrinks Web pages to fit differently sized screens, has emerged as the most-often recommended manner of optimizing content for mobile devices. This dominance was cemented in mid-2012 when Google recommended responsive design as the best strategy for smartphone-optimized websites. 

As the iPhone, Android phones, and iPad became bestselling consumer gadgets, businesses realized their Web presence needed to translate to those smaller screens. Otherwise, their websites would bear tell-tale signs of a business clueless to mobile: tiny text, tinier links, and a jumbled layout. They risked lost traffic and sales.

These days, responsive design is recommended as the gold standard. But as with most technologies in a multi-device world, it has disadvantages, and it's not right for every business, or every application.

In a new report from BI Intelligence, we describe what responsive design is and compare it to other mobile optimization tools, analyze responsive designs pros and cons, examine data and statistics that track responsive design adoption and performance across mobile, and evaluate whether dedicated mobile websites have their place, and detail the ramifications for HTML5 development. 

To access the full report, sign up for a free trial of BI Intelligence today >>>

Here's an overview of the main mobile optimization tools:

• Mobile apps: Particularly at the beginning of the mobile boom, when some believed apps would channel virtually all mobile activity, businesses rushed to create apps. Apps may be dominant in some mobile markets like the U.S., but consumers use their mobile browsers too — and not just for casual browsing, searching and information look-ups. A great deal of e-commerce happens in the mobile Web browser, not in native apps. Not to mention: Apps are expensive. Apps are not the be-all, end-all for mobile.
• Dedicated mobile websites: Some usability gurus advocate for separate mobile sites that offer a stripped-down version of its content and carry their own Web address (often with the URL that looks something like this: m.website). These mobile-only sites tend to perform very well in terms of load speeds.
• Responsive design: In responsive design, the same Web code or HTML is delivered to every device, but tweaks to CSS code — which determines the layout of Web pages — allow it to determine the device size and adjust layout accordingly. The website maintains the same Web address or URL regardless of what device it's seen on. In sum: The fluid layout means that content adapts to all form factors, even smart TVs — a fast-growing source of Web traffic.
• Responsive Design With Server-Side Support. This is a variant of responsive design. The difference is that the computer server that hosts the website will deliver different batches of HTML and CSS Web code depending on what device the user is on. This method solves some of responsive design's performance issues, but requires device detection. It means a company can use responsive design and enjoy its advantages where it wants, but deploy more customized components too. It may deploy responsive elements across mobile, while keeping a more traditional fixed layout for the PC. It may even deliver customized experiences for certain device models (like a feature that only works on retina screens, etc.).

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/rise-of-responsive-design-pros-and-cons-2013-6#ixzz2XOMGinLE

The HTML5 Vs. Native Apps Battle Broken Down

http://www.businessinsider.com/battle-between-html5-vs-native-apps-2013-6

An HTML5 app is housed on the Web and runs inside a mobile browser. Unlike apps built specifically for Apple devices or Google's Android operating system, it does not need to be built from scratch for each OS. The promise is that it can be "write once, run anywhere."

It's true: In many cases, HTML5 can work just as well as a native approach. But it is not the silver bullet it is often made out to be, for several reasons. 

So where are we in the HTML5 vs. native apps debate? 

In a recent report, BI Intelligence breaks down this question, doing a head-to-head comparison of the two and looking at the current state of the performance gap between HTML5 and native apps.

Access The Full Report And Data By Signing Up For A Free Trial Today >>

Take look at this table from our report: 

BI Intelligence

As the chart illustrates, native apps still reign supreme over HTML5 in a few areas, including:

• Rich user experience and performance: HTML5 still faces challenges in accessing device-native features across all mobile browsers, and in rendering graphically-rich user interfaces and data presentations.
• Monetization: The native app stores — Apple's App Store and Google Play — win this one. There hasn't been a convincing model for HTML5 monetization beyond individual vendors selling their apps online.

But, HTML5 has a leg up in cross-platform deployment costs, update speed and distribution control, available programming expertise, and in solving fragmentation challenges. Both native and HTML5 face serious fragmentation challenges, but of different sorts. 

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/battle-between-html5-vs-native-apps-2013-6#ixzz2W5BROjGW

HTML5 vs. Apps: Where The Debate Stands Now, And Why It Matters

http://www.businessinsider.com/html5-vs-apps-where-the-debate-stands-now-and-why-it-matters-2013-3

 

An HTML5 app is housed on the Web and runs inside a mobile browser. Unlike apps built specifically for Apple devices or Google's Android operating system, it does not need to be built from scratch for each OS. The promise is that it can be "write once, run anywhere."

It's true: In many cases, HTML5 can work just as well as a native approach. But it is not the silver bullet it is often made out to be, for several reasons. HTML5 faces a fragmentation issue of its own, since there are gaps in the range of HTML5 app features supported by the different mobile browsers.

So where are we in the HTML5 vs. native apps debate? 

A new report from BI Intelligence analyzes this very question.

In the report, we do a head-to-head comparison of the two, explain the specific reasons why HTML5 has a long term edge over native apps for mobile development, analyze the barriers to HTML5 as a development tool and explain how HTML5 is starting to overcome them, look at the current state of the performance gap between HTML5 and native apps, and get the developer's perspective through interviews with HTML5 skeptics, early adopters, and HTML5 pioneers and advocates.

Access The Full Report By Signing Up For A Free Trial Today >>

 Here's a few areas where native apps still reign supreme over HTML5:

• Rich user experience and performance: HTML5 still faces challenges in accessing device-native features across all mobile browsers, and in rendering graphically-rich user interfaces and data presentations.
• Monetization: The native app stores — Apple's App Store and Google Play — win this one. There hasn't been a convincing model for HTML5 monetization beyond individual vendors selling their apps online.
• Security: Currently, native apps still offer greater ease of access to advanced security features and encryption.
• So, where is HTML5 ahead? HTML5 has a leg up in cross-platform deployment costs, update speed and distribution control, available programming expertise, and in solving fragmentation challenges: Both native and HTML5 face serious fragmentation challenges, but of different sorts. Ultimately, it's more likely that HTML5 and its cross-platform potential will win out here.

In full, the report:

• Includes a head-to-head comparison of HTML5 and native apps, explaining the winner in user experience, performance, deployment costs, distribution control, monetization, available programming expertise, fragmentation challenges, and security
• Explains the specific reasons why HTML5 has a long term edge over native apps for mobile development
• Analyzes the barriers to HTML5 as a development tool and explains how HTML5 is starting to overcome them
• Looks at the current state of the performance gap between HTML5 and native apps
• Gets the developer's perspective through interviews with HTML5 skeptics, early adopters, and HTML5 pioneers and advocates 

To access BI Intelligence's full report on HTML5, sign up for a free trial subscription here.

What developers do with HTML5 (infographic)

http://venturebeat.com/2013/02/26/what-developers-do-with-html5-infographic/

Developers are using HTML increasingly for both mobile apps and, believe it or not, for desktop apps … especially for emerging platforms like Chrome, and sure-to-be-huge platforms like Windows 8.
But some still feel the technology is over-hyped.
So Kendo UI — which makes an HTML5-based mobile development toolkit — surveyed 5,000 developers to see what they’re doing with the technology.

---

Get the full story: 5,000 developers on HTML5

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It turns out that 70 percent of North American developers are already using HTML5, as are roughly 60 percent of South American, European, and Chinese developers. And they’re using them to build productivity tools, utilities, and more.
Here’s the data in visual form:

HTML5: 10 Provocative Predictions For The Future

http://readwrite.com/2013/02/22/html5-10-provocative-predictions-for-the-future

Todd Anglin February 22nd, 2013

Guest author Todd Anglin is EVP Cross Platform Tools & Services at Telerik.

For HTML5 developers and decision makers, the most important technologies right now are HTML, JavaScript, CSS, mobile platforms and devices and evolving HTML platforms (browsers and operating systems). But what does that mean in the real world? It means these 10 things in 2013:  

1. Rise Of HTML5 Mobile Platforms

HTML5 has played an increasingly important role building cross-platform apps for mobile devices. So far that has primarily been done using native “wrappers,” such as Cordova, which allow HTML and JavaScript to power apps on other native platforms (such as iOS and Android). This technique is called “hybrid” app development.

This year, though, a wave of emerging platforms will support HTML5 apps as a first-class citizen - no wrapper required! The biggest players will be Chrome OS, which is about to get much more attention from Google; Firefox OS, already scheduled to start shipping on low-end ZTE and TCL devices in Europe; Tizen, a new HTML-focused platform backed by many industry heavyweights, including Intel and Samsung; Ubuntu Phone, which brings the most popular flavor of Linux to phones, again with a HTML-centered ap strategy; BlackBerry 10, which puts HTML and JavaScript at the center of its next-gen app strategy; and Windows 8, which introduced a new HTML and JavaScript development model for it’s “Windows 8 style” apps.   One (or more) of these platforms is bound to succeed in 2013. My money is on Chrome OS and Tizen. With the backing of Google, a revamped developer and consumer push, and the broadest platform strategy (spans mobile and desktop), Chrome OS is very well positioned.

Tizen, meanwhile, enjoys broad industry backing from Intel, Samsung, NEC, Panasonic, Sprint, Huawei and Vodafone (among many others), and engineering stewardship in The Linux Foundation. It shows the most potential to challenge Android as the “more open” (read: more customizable) open source device platform, which should appeal to device makers.  

2. Made For Chrome(kit)

A growing number of sites are once again buildiing Web apps tested to work in only one browser. Like the “Made for Internet Explorer” badges of the 1990s, developers are now proudly advertising “Made for Chrome” in their apps. Not using Chrome? No guarantees.   This trend is likely to accelerate in 2013.   With a rapidly evolving, highlycapable browser platform that is available on virtually every major operating system (Windows, Mac, Linux, Android and kinda iOS), and a Webkit foundation that helps deliver a little extra compatibility with other non-Chrome browsers (like Safari and BlackBerry browser), developers are likely to conclude that the “good outweighs the bad” when it comes to building exclusively for Chrome.   In exchange for potentially alienating some users, developers building for Chrome can more aggressively leverage HTML5 APIs and save valuable development and testing time.  

3. IE10 Euphoria - And Pain

Internet Explorer 10 is widely regarded as a huge step forward for the venerable Microsoft browser. With more support than ever for Web standards, IE10 goes a long way to put Microsoft’s browser in the modern HTML5 conversation.   But as fast-updating browsers like Chrome and Firefox race forward through 2013, IE will once again be left looking old and slow. There is a glimmer of hope that Microsoft will evolve IE more quickly: The Microsoft-owned HTML5 Labs, launched originally in the IE9 days, is continuing to publish new “experimental” improvements for IE10 that make it an even more capable HTML5 browser. Baby steps, but still a good sign.  

4. The Death Of IE6, IE7 & IE8

While IE10 will be in the spotlight, the long death march for Microsoft’s older IE versions will continue. Only the most stubborn corporate environments (and China) still require IE6 support, and much of the world skipped IE7 anyway. If you haven't already stopped supporting IE6 and IE7, 2013 is definitely your year.   Dropping IE8 is a bit more of a stretch, but the pressure is on. Not only does IE10’s release make IE8 two versions old (often used as a “clean” support cut-off justification), but jQuery 2.0 will join Google Apps in cutting-off IE8 in 2013. By the end of the year, most developers will conclude IE8 is not worth their time.  

5. The Death Of Android 2.x

Until recently, it looked like we had another IE6 on our hands with Android 2.x (Eclair, Froyo and Gingerbread). According to Google’s own stats, as recently as mid-2012, these versions of Android (mostly 2.3.x) represented more than 90% of all Android devices in use, despite the fact that Google was already shipping Android 4+! Google was failing to keep its Android user base (and ecosystem) upgrading.   Fortunately, the 2012 holiday season seems to have broken the logjam. Usage of Android 4+ (Ice Cream Sandwich and Jelly Bean) surged to nearly 40% at the end of 2012. By the end of 2013, Android 2.x will likely account for less than 15% of the market, and Android developers will be able to shift focus to versions 4+.  

6. Responsive Design Goes Mainstream

So far, responsive design has remained on the fringes of Web development - something nice to do “if you have time."   That's about to change. With the lines between PCs and mobile devices increasingly blurred, developers will have no choice but to develop websites and apps that can dynamically adapt to an unpredictable array of screen sizes and resolutions.

(See also The New ReadWrite: Looking Good On Every Screen [Video].)

To ease the way, look for new techniques and defacto standards to also emerge, offering guidance for properly dealing with different device capabilities and form factors.  

7. Mobile Development Overtakes Desktop

It doesn’t take an expensive analyst to see the growth in phones and tablets while traditional PCs fade. Right now is the moment when developers will begin spending more time developing software for mobile devices than for traditional desktop PCs, extending from the consumer market to businesses of all sizes, for both internal and external audiences. If you’re not developing for devices in 2013, you’re either A) maintaining legacy software, or B) missing the boat.  

8. HTML On The Desktop

Just because mobile is on the rise, don’t start writing an obituary for desktop development. The traditional desktop form factor will remain critical for many information workers. But as the PC becomes one among many screens, developers will look for ways to write code that can be shared across the PC and mobile devices.   HTML and JavaScript are perfectly positioned to offer this capability, and platforms like Chrome Packaged Apps and Windows Store Style (WinJS) apps will make this possible. With both Microsoft and Google pushing HTML for desktop app development, developers will take notice and start embracing cross-platform desktop development with HTML and JavaScript.  

9. SPA Time

With the shift of desktop development and increasingly complex mobile apps to HTML and JavaScript, developers will recognize the need for new techniques to build maintainable cross-platform apps. The “Single Page Application” (or SPA) has been on the rise thanks to powerful frameworks like Backbone, Knockout and even Kendo UI. If “RIA” (Rich Internet Applications) was the buzzword in 2010, “SPA” will be the buzzword in 2013.   If you’re looking for the one new technology or concept to learn as an HTML and JavaScript developer in 2013, it's SPA architecture.  

10. HTML Gets Naked (Again)

Now that the W3C has “finalized” HTML5, public conversation and media coverage is going focus on what’s next for the Web standards platform. The W3C is already working on HTML 5.1, the next “snapshot” of the “living standards” work done within WHATWG, the Web Hypertext Application Technology Working Group. But as we move past the “HTML5” bubble, we’ll once again settle-in to talking about HTML, sans version numbers. After all, who wants to talk or write about “HTML5.1” or “HTML5.3”?   Whatever it’s called, the next wave of HTML platform improvements will shift focus beyond the lower-level core at the center of HTML5 (DOM elements, CSS styles, Simple JavaScript APIs like Geolocation) and instead characterize improvements that are important to more robust application development (like ShadowDOM, Web Components, CSS layouts, speech recognition and more).

The HTML conversation (and technology) will continue to evolve, even if the version numbers don’t come along for the ride.

Intel Acquires AppMobi's HTML5 Developer Tools And Staff

http://readwrite.com/2013/02/21/intel-acquires-appmobis-html5-developer-tools-and-staff

Dan Rowinski February 21st, 2013

Intel has gutted the HTML5 mobile-app development firm appMobi, acquiring its tools and related staff – but not the startup itself. The move is part of Intel's bid to build out its own suite of developer tools for mobile applications.
According to documents obtained by ReadWrite (see below), appMobi will turn into a pure play cloud services provider, offering developers backend service support for HTML5 mobile applications. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

ReadWrite's 2012 Most Promising Company

ReadWrite named appMobi “the most promising company of 2012” for its work on creating HTML5 solutions for mobile application developers. The company aimed to rethink how developers can use HTML5 for audio and video as well as accelerating performance for Android and iOS. It created Mobius, a mobile video standard that aimed to kill Flash (which ended up dying in mobile anyway) and helped create innovative ways for HTML5 developers to monetize their products. 
appMobi’s most innovative (and controversial) product came in the form of jqMobi, a HTML5/JavaScript framework designed to give mobile developers a mobile-ready JQuery. The company created a proof-of-concept, fully HTML5 game called BoomTown to show game developers that, yes, fully functional mobile games can be built using a mobile browser as a backbone.

Tools And Migration

Specifically, the tools that Intel is acquiring from appMobi include the XDK IDE (Integrated Developer Environment), PhoneGap XDK, GameDev XDK, jqMobi and jqUI developer frameworks, directCanvas HTML5 acceleration, the Mobius Web browser along with testing and debugging tools.
The tools most important to Intel will be the jqMobi and directCanvas products which give developers environments to build HTML5 applications and to accelerate them on mobile devices.
Developers that are currently using appMobi's tools will not be effected by the move to Intel except for a one time re-registration to Intel's systems. The HTML5 tools will continue to remain free to use through Intel.
Ultimately, this will be a smart move for Intel as it tries to validate its presence in the mobile development space. By acquiring a robust set of HTML5 tools it can give developers the option of creating cross-platform apps that will work in any environment on any device and (most importantly) any computer chip.
Here's appMobi's email to developers on the Intel move, followed by a FAQ also produced by the company:

Top 7 Most In-Demand Tech Skills For 2013

John Paul Titlow yesterday

If you promised yourself you were going to beef up your tech skills in 2013, now is the time to get moving.
But where to start? With so many languages, platforms, protocols and other technologies, it's hard to know what's worth spending your limited free time to learn. Based on surveys and data from a variety of sources, ReadWrite has put together a list of seven of the most sought-after tech skills for this year.

7. All Things "Cloud" 

The cloud computing craze is still going strong, if tech job hiring trends are any indication. Specifically, companies are looking for software developers who specialize in things like virtualization and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) development, with familiarity with Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) technologies.
According to one survey of IT execs, 25% of companies are planning on hiring people with SaaS and related cloud-computing expertise in 2013.  In general, SaaS and virtualization are both buzzwords often cited as being on-the-rise on job search sites.
Of course, SaaS and PaaS (not to mention whatever-else-as-a-service) can utilize any number of specific programming languages and technologies (more on those below). Suffice it to say that if a given skill helps companies utilize cloud infrastructure or virtualize any aspect of their computing needs, it's in high demand.
See also: Tech Jobs in 2013: Open Source All The Way Down

6. IT Project Management

One of the most sought-after tech job skills isn't all that technical. Slinging code, maintaining infrastructure and designing software are all really important, but they're kind of useless without somebody to see the project through to completion. That's why certified project managers can pull in six figure incomes and why 40% of IT executives are looking to hire project managers in 2013.

5. JavaScript (And Related Technologies) 

On the Web, JavaScript is what makes things interactive, especially now that the rise of tablets and smartphones has bumped Flash from prominence. Whether it's the ever-popular jQuery framework or the JSON data interchange standard, companies need JavaScript-focused talent like never before. In fact, JSON is the most in-demand skill on CyberCoders.
It's worth noting that when people say "HTML5," they're often referring in part to JavaScript. That's because what makes Web apps look and feel so app-like is CSS and JavaScript, not just the plain HTML itself.
If you're looking to learn Web programming, JavaScript is the place you want to end up. If you want to start slow, a framework like jQuery could be the way to go.

4. Java / J2EE

Java and the J2EE development platform are popping up more and more on job hiring boards. Indeed, Java/J2EE developers are going to be in high demand throughout 2013, according to a survey from Dice.
Unlike hot new technologies like Android development and HTML5, demand for Java skills has been fairly consistent over time, although it has been on the rise in the last few years.

3. PHP / MySQL

It may lack the sexiness of mobile development or newer Web programming technologies, but PHP is still very important. The open source scripting language runs on more than 20 million websites and powers high-profile sites we deal with every day, including Facebook and Wikipedia. Any blog, news site or other website built using Wordpress or Drupal is making use of PHP as well. It's all over the Web, even if you can't see it by clicking "view source."
PHP is currently ranked as the most sought-after skill on Elance, with MySQL and Wordpress also cracking the top ten. There are more than a quarter of a million PHP programming gigs listed on Elance alone.

2. iOS Development

It comes as no surprise that iOS developers are sought after. Most sources that track job talent demand rank iOS development or related skills like Xcode and Objective-C programming very highly. As Apple's sales in both tablets and smartphones has exploded, so too has the demand for developers who can build apps for the iOS ecosystem.
iPhone and iPad development have been trendy for a few years now, but it's actually accelerated pretty dramatically in the last two years. After years of slow but steady growth, demand for iOS development skyrocketed over the course of 2011 and 2012, according to data from the job aggregator site Indeed. If you've been meaning to try your hand at building apps for the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch, now is a good time to get into it.

1. HTML5 / CSS

Where would the Web be without HTML? Nowhere, really. This simple markup language is literally what the Web is made of, with cascading style sheets (CSS) making everything look nice and JavaScript adding interactive functionality.
It's only natural that the language at the heart of the Web would be in high demand, even as native mobile app development and back-end cloud technologies command bigger ad bigger chunks of IT budgets. In fact, as tablets, smartphones and cloud-hosted services proliferate, the importance of the Web grows along with it. Consumers still need to access their cloud-hosted SaaS services via their Web browser. And studies show that tablet owners still love the Web.
After years of relative stagnation, HTML has made big advances in recent years with HTML5, which is now supported by the latest versions of all major Web browsers. Meanwhile, the design options available via CSS3 and the interactivity provided by JavaScript have pushed the Web even further, blurring the line between Web-based and native apps.
HTML5 makes a 23-year-old markup language cool again - and back in high demand. Elance and Indeed both rank HTML as one of their most sought-after job skills, while other studies routinely point to it being in strong demand.
As a bonus, it's relatively easy to learn compared to the other skills on our list.

http://readwrite.com/2013/01/30/top-7-in-demand-tech-skills-for-2013

Will Windows 8 Bring HTML5 To Enterprise Applications?

Cormac Foster posted 2 hours ago

When Microsoft gave its first public preview of Windows 8 in 2011, the now-President of Windows Julie Larson-Green sent shockwaves through the Windows development world with just four words: "our new development platform." The reason? That platform was based on HTML5 and Javascript.
To casual observers, that makes sense. HTML5 is roaring to the forefront of development far faster than industry predictions. We even saw some commercial proof of the platform's "Write Once, Run Anywhere" promise in 2012. To seasoned Windows developers, though – particularly those building enterprise apps in dedicated Microsoft shops – it crushed their world. After spending decades learning to use different languages and development environments – most recently Microsoft's proprietary but feature-rich WPF and Silverlight – the thought of jumping ship for HTML5 was devastating.
Microsoft has backpedaled in a number of forums since then, assuring developers that while HTML5 is the new standard for cross-platform apps, other tools will continue to work for Windows-only development. But the writing is on the wall. HTML5 is the future, so if you develop enterprise Windows applications, should you bite the bullet and make the move?

Will HTML5 Save Enterprises Money?

The cost argument will rage for some time. One camp holds that HTML / Javascript developers are cheap and plentiful, so HTML5 is necessarily cheaper. The other side believes that instability of the HTML5 spec (only recently finalized and not scheduled for Recommendation status until 2014) compared to the more mature development environments available for "traditional" Windows development means developers can build complex applications faster, without worrying about tweaking things down the road.
The CTO of one small software vendor saw value in both views: "For our simpler apps, I can hire kids with good Javascript skills and let them learn the Windows specifics on the job. For really complex applications with tens of thousands of lines of code or more, It would be dumb to break what already works." He added that his more experienced Windows developers are mentoring the generally younger HTML developers to cross-pollinate knowledge. "Ultimately, each tool will have a use, for at least the next several years, and I want all of my devs to be able to pick the one that makes sense."

"Serious Coders" vs. "Script Kiddies"

His biggest problem so far is a reluctance to embrace change. "I have a couple 28-year-olds who act like grumpy old men, afraid that the 'script kiddies' without any real computer science knowledge are moving in on their turf. To them, HTML5 cheapens the application, dumbs down their resumes, and opens the door to a whole lot of bad coding from people who know how to make Web pages, but don't have any formal experience with structured coding."
The last point is probably the most valid. Knowing HTML and some Javascript isn't a particularly high bar, so enterprises need to be diligent about hiring and mentoring. If you pull developers off of Craigslist for $15 an hour, you're not going to get quality enterprise work. Even well-established Web developers coming from a LAMP background may not have the right experience. A mentoring program using Agile or another pair-programming methodology – can be a great way to ease Web developers into a more formal programing environment.

What Do Developers Want?

One long-time C++ and (more recently) C# developer wasn't excited about the rise of HTMLt5: "Eh. I get what they're doing. It's all about the portability of UI. They've been on that path for a long time, but whatever. The thing is, developers don't want to learn a new markup when Microsoft has already forced them to learn one recently. WPF / Silverlight is crap, but so was Winforms. If they'd skipped WPF, they'd probably have more success trying to get people to shift to HTML5... I'll go where the money is, though."
That last point is telling. Developers will follow the work, they really don't have a choice. And that it won't be long before everyone will be doing at least some work in HTML5. Smart enterprises will be begin mixing in some of that work now makes sense, but there's not yet good reasons for a complete shift.

http://readwrite.com/2013/01/07/will-windows-8-bring-html5-to-enterprise-applications

Tech Jobs In 2013: Open Source All The Way Down

It's a good time to be in technology.  According to the December 2012 Dice hiring survey, 64% of hiring managers and recruiters surveyed expect to hire more tech employees in the first six months of the year, versus 47% for non-tech roles.  Life looks even better for tech professionals with open source experience.
That's because the industry's hottest trends are being driven by open-source software.  Big Data, cloud computing and mobile are all intimately connected to open source.  Hence, it's not surprising that of the top-10 tech skills in demand on Indeed.com, listed in order of how fast these keywords are growing in online job postings, six of them are explicitly open source:

  Used with permission from Indeed.com.
PaaS, which isn't uniformly open source, has prominent open-source offerings like VMware's Cloud Foundry and Red Hat's OpenShift helping drive the market.  Hence, as much as 70% of the hottest job trends can be argued as involving open source.

It's Not Just Open Source

Yes, I know.  There are plenty of proprietary technology companies faring quite well.  Apple, for example.  But let's face it: you're not Apple, and even Apple is facing increased pressure from open-source Android, which now dominates smartphones and looks set to dominate tablets and anything else Apple cares to reinvent.  In mobile, then, you need to know Android as well as HTML5 application frameworks like Ember.js, Sencha, Backbone, jQuery Mobile or others.
In Big Data, demand is high for know-how in a range of open-source projects, as Dice and Wikibon note.  In fact, while we've long had Big Data solutions from brand-name vendors like Informatica and IBM, it's the open-source projects like Hadoop that have really made Big Data a big deal by bringing serious data processing and data storage (predominately NoSQL) to low-cost commodity hardware.
Cloud computing, too, is largely an open-source phenomenon, though the 8,000-pound gorilla known as Amazon is hardly a big open-source contributor.  But that doesn't mean Amazon hasn't benefited from open source: it runs a half million Linux servers (mostly customized Red Hat Enterprise Linux), Xen and other open-source technology.  Much of the other cloud providers, however, rely expressly on open source, including Eucalyptus, Citrix's CloudStack, OpenNebula and OpenStack, among others.

Training Made Easier

Which leaves us with just one problem: how to get trained on all this great open-source software?  According to the Dice survey, one of the big problems hiring managers have is in finding qualified personnel for all these tech jobs they need to fill:

Which isn't really a problem in open source.  The code is there for anyone to download, learn from and improve upon.  This aspect of open source - the lowering of hurdles to access great code - perhaps more than any other, will do more to increase the pace of innovation in the tech industry over the next decade.  In 2013, our problem is not access to training on the tech that will give us better, higher-paying jobs.  Our problem is choosing where to launch our first GitHub fork.

http://readwrite.com/2012/12/31/tech-jobs-in-2013-open-source-open-data

Why HTML5 provided more tricks than treats in 2012 | VentureBeat

Why HTML5 provided more tricks than treats in 2012 | VentureBeat