[owaislone]

.NET would have had a real chance at being the android application platform if it was philosophically in the state that it is today (open sourced toolchain/compilers, open-source friendly MS, Mono/Xamarin in good shape).

Moving android away from Java is going to be a big undertaking and I doubt Google will undertake such a huge project only to move away from Oracle and closer to MS.

If they ever try to replace Java, it'll be Dart or another language they acquire in future. Dart has good chances.

They already have an early stage framework to make Android (and iOS) apps with Dart[0]. It's also the main GUI toolkit for their Fuchsia OS [1].

0 https://flutter.io/

1 https://github.com/fuchsia-mirror/

[smnscu]

Silly idea that will never happen, but imagine Google and Microsoft* working together on Android and it becoming actually open (i.e. not a tool to protect google search on mobile) and easily targetable by Java, C#, Go, etc. apps. From a technical point of view it might sound difficult until you realize modern smartphones are veritable beasts compared to computers 10 years ago, and we've had general purpose OSes for decades now. This is mostly just me shipping Google and Microsoft after their successful recent collaborations like TypeScript.

* - based on the premise that MS might be open to this after failing at mobile over and over again

[int_19h]

It's not really so silly from Microsoft's perspective. Given the sorry state of affairs with WP, and company's overall focus on Azure, it would make perfect sense to embrace a popular mobile platform, if this could be translated to more sales of Azure services.

What Google is to get out of it is a more interesting question.

[icebraining]

I'm sure it was difficult, but you can already ship C# code using Xamarin, no need to wait for Microsoft.

[cm2187]

Xamarin is a bit of a hack. What we really need is a cross platform solid (i.e. not javascript) language supported natively.

What would be ideal would be that Apple, Google and Microsoft sit together and agree on a common language and GUI API that would work on Android, iOS, Windows, MacOS and Linux natively.

[K0SM0S]

I've often dreamed of this, especially when it seemed all too obvious for MS to release an Android phone; then again after ubuntu/bash on Windows. But whereas it seems like a golden opportunity for MS, it would essentially be Google handing keys to a mobile realm to MS. Short of a super-deal on desktop I don't see what's in it for Google to enter such a partnership (and Bing vs Gsearch, or countless other frontal rivalries, isn't conducive to a desktop alliance, notwithstanding the predictable end/shift of desktop as a category/paradigm). Nothing beyond scope-limited projects like TS between MS and G, as I see it currently.

What's more likely these days is Google entering the desktop space (x86) by merging it with mobile (e.g. Andromeda). Pretty sure that OS could grab 30% of new laptops in a heartbeat (think: almost free for manufacturers: no Win license).

Meanwhile, I'm pretty sure Apple will do its thing (did they fix Gmail on Mail yet?) Though I think Swift, if it were in "the state of C#/.NET" as worded above, would eventually become a great candidate for a high level common language. Somehow I don't think Apple is trying, their open-sourcing seems to end at "reassurance" (stacks can't die if you can maintain the packages, b/c oss, yay).

[vintagedave]

C++? https://www.embarcadero.com/products/cbuilder

Or for something more like C#, Delphi? https://www.embarcadero.com/products/delphi

Both these platforms, which include a cross-platform UI library including native controls, are Windows, iOS, Android, macOS, and Linux in the next release.

[cm2187]

The thing with C++ is that it's a hard language. I understand the power for low level stuff, and it is available already. But for 99% of apps, a higher level language like java or c# is really what we need.

Even C# is starting to show its age. Perhaps it's the occasion to reboot it. Start from scratch based on modern concepts with a truly cross-platform language.

With support from Microsoft + Google + Apple, and cross platform across Windows, MacOS, Linux, iOS and Android, adoption would go to 100% (or 11!) on month 1.

[uncletaco]

A pipe dream for me would be if that common language were a lisp.

[cm2187]

I think it should be BrainFuck rather

[fsiefken]

What's wrong with Vue.js/TypeScript/ES6/Weex(native) or React/TypeScript/ES6/Native? It's no C#, but it's modern, performant, crossplatform and can be OS themed.

[cm2187]

I'm only familiar with TypeScript. It is adding types to javascript, which is welcomed. But that doesn't make up for a lot of the uglyness of the language. Javascript was never meant to be anything else than a way to open porn popups ads and it shows.

But even C# is starting to show its age and would deserved a reboot. If we agree on a truly cross platform language, we might as well make it modern and simple, with great tooling. That does mean breaking backward compatibility with older languages but the benefits of having a common language way offset the cost of retraining developers.

[flukus]

Imagine google buying MS. They seem more complimentary than competitive these days.

[gbersac]

They are both around 500 billion of valuation. Impossible.

[EpicEng]

And MS has about $30B more cash on hand.

http://www.investors.com/news/technology/microsoft-alphabet-...

[_cmmn]

Also, a few years ago Xamarin actually ported Android (then 2.2. IIRC) to Mono/C#, as a test for Java->C# converters, and the result was faster than Android/Java.