I'm still new here so not knowing the ropes I hope I don't offend by dragging in additional topics or ones that get too many backs up.
Directly on topic, I think creating Windows applications using B4A is a fantastic concept!
My thinking on this goes like (a.) sure we could just write Java/Swing (NetBeans) and be done with it, (b.) lots of people are familiar, comfortable, and happy with VB6 but not so much the state it is in (just for example the lack of API support for cloud services and so many other post-stoneage things), (c.) even if B4A is used as a tool to leverage your way into Java development it makes as much good sense on Windows as on Android.
Here's where I fall off topic, and maybe this belongs in a thread of its own:
Considering where Microsoft is headed with Windows post-Win7 and the fact that after two years we are not seeing a change in direction... it is shocking to me how few hobby, casual biz, and small/medium Line-O-Biz programmers are not aware of the wall they may soon run into. As the "desktop" (win32) gets closer and closer to being locked down aside from whitelisted applications (mostly from Microsoft) and WinRT is the only user programmable platform these issues will come front and center. We've seen the preview in the Windows RT OS (think Surface). But it is coming to plain old Windows as well.
I'm not sure people are paying attention to this: Difficult to impossible deployment story. Highly restricted sandboxing (no filesystem access, no database connections, no TCP/IP access to localhost, etc.). And of course the entirely new process lifecycle, UI patterns, and API to learn, though that's more of a "moving cheese" issue.
An ability to target Windows' "desktop" with B4A helps these people two ways. One, it gets them another alternative desktop development tool with some real advantages. Two, it gets them ready for the inevitable move from Windows Client altogether, i.e. to Android.
Not everyone will take this road. Some will try to transition to WinRT and swim upstream against the heavy tide. Others may buy into iOS. But Android is shaping up into a real alternative as a desktop OS even though it isn't there yet. When Windows 9 or Windows 10 arrives in just a few years with a locked down desktop application environment Android could be there to pick up the pieces.
So a B4A that can generate Windows desktop Java applications coupled with getting the story out about "the death of Windows development" could be a package of pretty compelling evangelism. Learn and use it now, let it be your liferaft in the near future.
