I'm getting really tired of working against click-once and I'm wondering if there's a better alternative. I'm looking for a programming environment that preferably does not depend on the .net framework. I'm not sure how much .net does for me exactly (though I have some idea) but I'd like to make my programs as independent of downloading a microsoft or other framework. I often think of professional programs like itunes, gimp or firefox that don't require someone to have a .net framwork. I'd also like to have these programs work on windows mac and linux. Any suggestions?
C or C++.
If you're looking to make a program that is like gimp or Firefox, than you'll have no other good alternative. Java needs its virtual machine and web apps require an Internet connection. Though that's rarely a problem these days, it simply might not be applicable in your case. However, like the others have alluded, true platform-independence is tricky and that is certainly not less trivial in C or C++. That's pretty much why Java and .NET came to be in the first place.