I've written a nice user interface for my shell extension, using C#.NET. And personally I really enjoy it, C#.NET works very smoothely and I like it. But some users (and would-be users) has expressed that they don't have .NET and/or find it demanding that my small app requires the .NET framework installed. So now I might port my code to something else. All the main functionality is already in a DLL, but it's more the... Infotips, CheckedListBox, Buttons, GroupBox, and how they affect the flow of the program on user interaction that I'm worried about. What would be a suitable library to use that's similar to the .NET framework? I've used MFC and I hate it... Maybe wxWidgets might be good? Never used it. Any suggestions?

My personal opinion for you, if you don't mind, is to stick with your decision about the .NET framework. If you think about it, pretty quick everyone is going to have the framework installed, especially when Longhorn comes out. With the .NET framework you have a robust library to build your applications with, constant improvements from Microsoft, and if you design your application again using an older or 3rd party framework, I feel it will be outdated a lot quicker than a .NET saavy application. I think from a maintainability and technical point of view, I would stick with .NET. The runtime is not that bad, only has to be installed once, and you gain access to a myriad of features that will speed up your development time ten fold.

Just my two cents!

~Graham

I concur ... the .NET framework needs to infiltrate further into the market. The more apps require it, the easier it will be in the future to develop for it.

Thank you for your quick responce =)

Yes I personally prefer .NET, it was just a attempt to please all. But that's probably not possible =/

Oh well, more time to code more features then ;)

You can also look up embedding the .NET framework with your application. I have seen both 3rd party and Microsoft supported methods of doing this.

Hope that helps!

~Graham