Notwithstanding a tight economy, ASP.NET developers remain keen on third-party products, as evidenced by the participation in the 2009 asp.netPRO Readers' Choice Awards voting. This year, the asp.netPRO community cast more than 8,000 total votes on dozens of products in 25 categories, ranging from add-in tools to code editors to various components, controls, and specialized tools.
Old Favorites and a New Category
This year's voting results included many of the 2008 Readers' Choice Award winners, among them perennial favorites Developer Express and Telerik, taking the winner and runner-up positions, respectively, in the Charting and Graphics Tool, Component Set, Grid, Navigation Control, Online Editor, Printing/Reporting Tool, Silverlight, and Utility categories. Additionally, Developer Express took first place in the Add-in and Community Resource (for its DevExpress Community Site) categories, while Telerik won the Testing/QA Tool category with Telerik WebUI Test Studio (powered by ArtOfTest).
Offering a nod to the emergence of the Silverlight platform and its growing use among ASP.NET developers, asp.netPRO added Silverlight as a new product category in the Readers' Choice Awards. In this category, Developer Express, Telerik, and ComponentOne were readers' top three choices: Developer Express AgDataGrid Suite, Telerik RadControls for Silverlight, and ComponentOne Studio for Silverlight. About 43 percent of Readers' Choice Award voters chose a product in this category, a sign that ASP.NET professionals are getting more interested in Silverlight development tools.
Rising Stars
Notably, some new names appeared in this year's list of finalists. For instance, for the first time, DotNetNuke Professional Edition placed in the Content Management System category, taking the runner-up spot. Another newcomer to the winner's circle, 360 IMPACT's ASP.NET Auto Email, took first place in the Email Control category, beating out Advanced Intellect's aspNetEmail, which had won or received runner-up in the category for the previous four years. Other products appearing for the first time in at least three years among the list of Readers' Choice Award category winners include FarPoint Spread for ASP.NET (Honorable Mention, Grid); Applied Innovations and MaximumASP (Runner-up and Honorable Mention, Hosting Service); ASPSmith.com's ASP.NET Training (Winner, Training); and, of course, the three products winning awards in the Silverlight category.
The Vote That Matters
Ultimately, the vote that matters to ASP.NET vendors is whether customers ASP.NET professionals like you choose and stay with their products. The fact that a number of vendors have received Readers' Choice awards several years running bodes well for the reputation of these vendors and their products among asp.netPRO readers. As asp.netPRO Executive Editor Sheila Molnar mentions in her editorial this month, third-party vendors serve a vital role in enhancing and extending the basic foundation that Microsoft has laid with its products. But you, the developers, are the actual users and ultimate beneficiaries of these tools. As such, your voice and your choice of this year's Readers' Choice Award recipients is the one that matters the most.
Category | Winner | Runner-Up | Honorable Mention |
Add-in | Developer Express CodeRush for Visual Studio .NET | JetBrains' ReSharper | Madinina Software's CodeObject for Visual Studio .NET |
Charting and Graphics Tool | Developer Express XtraCharts Suite | Telerik RadChart for ASP.NET AJAX | Dundas Chart for .NET |
Chat Application | Xigla Software's Absolute Live Support .NET | CuteSoft Components' Cute Chat | Web Furbish's JaxterChat ASP.NET Chat Control |
Code Editor | IDM Computer Solutions' UltraEdit | Helios Software Solutions' TextPad | SlickEdit Tools for Microsoft Visual Studio |
Communications Tool | /n software's IP*Works! | Dart Communications' PowerTCP for .NET | Catalyst Development's SocketTools .NET Edition |
Community Resource |
DevExpress Community Site/Developer Express |
The Code Project | Microsoft's ASP.NET Site |
Component Set |
Developer Express DXperience ASP.NET |
Telerik RadControls for ASP.NET AJAX |
ComponentOne Studio Enterprise |
Content Management System |
Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 - Web Content Management |
DotNetNuke Professional Edition | Telerik Sitefinity CMS |
e-Commerce Package |
AbleCommerce Asp.Net Shopping Cart |
AspDotNetStorefront | Corporate Web Solutions' .netCART |
Email Control | 360 IMPACT's ASP.NET Auto Email | Advanced Intellect's aspNetEmail | /n software's IP*Works! S/MIME |
Forum Application | Telligent Community Server | BV Software's DotNetBB Forums | Active Modules' Active Forums |
Grid | Developer Express ASPxGridView | Telerik RadGrid for ASP.NET AJAX | FarPoint Spread for ASP.NET |
Hosting Service | DiscountASP.NET | Applied Innovations | MaximumASP |
IDE | Microsoft Visual Studio | Delphi Prism |
Sun Microsystems' Sun Studio 8 |
Navigation Control | Developer Express ASPxNavBar | Telerik RadMenu for ASP.NET AJAX | ComponentOne Menu for ASP.NET |
Online Editor |
Developer Express ASPxHTML Editor |
Telerik RadEditor for ASP.NET AJAX | Infragistics NetAdvantage for ASP.NET WebHtmlEditor |
Polling Tool | CodeWidgets.com's Online Voting/Survey Web-App | PeterBlum.com's Peter's Polling Package | |
Printing/Reporting Tool | Developer Express XtraReports Suite | Telerik Reporting | GrapeCity-Data Dynamics' ActiveReports for .NET |
Project Management/Defect Tracking | Axosoft's OnTime 2009 | Fog Creek Software's FogBugz | Seapine Software's TestTrack Pro |
Scheduling/Calendar Tool | Developer Express ASPxScheduler | Telerik RadScheduler for ASP.NET AJAX | ComponentOne WebSchedule/WebCalendar |
Security Tool | PreEmptive Solutions' Dotfuscator | /n software's IP*Works! SSL | Novalys's Visual Guard for .NET |
Silverlight | Developer Express AgDataGrid Suite | Telerik RadControls for Silverlight | ComponentOne Studio for Silverlight |
Testing/QA Tool | Telerik WebUI Test Studio (powered by ArtOfTest) | Red Gate Software's ANTS Profiler | AutomatedQA's TestComplete |
Training | ASPSmith.com's ASP.NET Training | Telerik Training | AppDev Training |
Utility | Developer Express ASPxSpellChecker | Telerik RadSpell for ASP.NET AJAX | CodeSmith Tools' CodeSmith |
Anne Grubb ([email protected]) is web and developer strategic editor for asp.netPRO, Windows IT Pro, SQL Server Magazine, and System i NEWS, and editor of the asp.netNOW newsletter.