I don't fully understand the question : why is Windows C++ different than C++ on other operating systems?

C++ is great. I really like the control it gives one over initialization at construction and scoped destruction. It's pretty safe these days too give pointers aren't highly involved (shared_ptr, stl containers instead).

The real question to me is : why in the world are y'all still using C? C++ is just as fast if you don't jump the shark.

I would ask the opposite question. Why are y'all still using C++? C _is_ faster from what I understand, and Java is basically a better, safer replacement for C++ (and equally as fast on big enough applications).

Steve Yegge has some great thoughts about how C++ should die, in favor of Java (not that he likes Java either, though he loves the JVM).

In the context of this post, the Java VM on Windows is a clunky piece of rubbish, with widgets that look like they come from 1996.

It apparently depends on which Java GUI toolkit (Swing, SWT, etc) you use, but yes, 90% of Java apps on most platforms have massive UI latency and look like shit.

People still write desktop apps?

There is still no real foreseeable replacement for Microsoft Office (web apps just aren't full replacements yet, and won't be for the foreseeable future), so if that doesn't get rewritten in .Net (which also won't happen in the foreseeable future), we'll have Win32 code around for some time yet.

What about MS Office web apps?

If you mean the C++ Win32 API, then probably ...no. Most will never even touch and won't need it except if it is coding some low level/ funky / or hardware related thing under windows.