Ah, I statement I can really relate to. But before we get to the meat of your statement that caught my attention, I have to agree with John and Kevin on this. One thing that they didn't mention as far as covering costs, is the size of the .net market compared to vfp (even when vfp was riding high) attracts many to .net.

In the best of times, there were 3 VFP user groups in the LA area. Typically attended by 20-30 folks on good days. They all had similar topics.

I went to the LA .net user group meeting 2 weeks ago. There were closer to 40 attendies. It was held in a lecture hall at UCLA. I believe one of the main organizers of the group is a professor there. At this meeting Robert Half was there to drum up business. I believe that means they paid for drinks and pizza.

As far as your comments, I didn't find anything different about the tone of this group compared to VFP user groups. Also this meeting is a blip on the list of .net meeting in LA.

A SQL Server sig has sprung from this group. Something I've never seen from VFP groups, but thought was a fantastic idea, is that a group meets one week after the user group meeting to review what was discussed and attempt to practice what was learned.

Now the big question, is what do you intend to move on to? I've had some similar thoughts. But I feel comfortable I can make some good money at .net at least for a few more years. But I'm always curious when someone is making a decision to leave IT.

>>Nowhere, and I repeat, nowhere else will you find the camaraderie and community that exists in the VFP world. While Microsoft would like to bottle it and export it to all their other development groups, they've had very limited success in that so far. The reason is, you can't *make it* happen, it just does.
>>
>>So who's sponsoring these free get togethers and providing meals? I'd be extremely wary of anything that required that much of an investment as to just what their agenda might be. You might find that free is a terrible price to pay.
>>
>>In any case, a get together doesn't make a community. The people do.
>>
>>Hi, Fred,
>>
>>I'm not trying to start a war, but I do want to offer the following:
>>
>>I've been in Fox since 1988 and attended many DevCons and other conferences. The Fox community was always something special. The conferences in San Diego, Phoenix, and Orlando were awesome. Without a doubt.
>>
>>I will also say that there is absolutely a .NET community out there. It's different than the Fox community, but equally special. It's a bit more difficult to quantify, partly because .NET is so large. There are sub-communities that cover web services, remoting, language issues, etc. If you check out blogs and community sites, you'll see overlap.
>>
>>About 2 years ago, I asked the same question - where is the community? Well, as I learned, it's out there.
>>
>>MSDN CodeCamps (which, to the best of my awareness, started early this year) have been a great success and are popping up all over the place. They are weekend events and are very informal. I've attended and participated in several, and plan on speaking at two more by the end of the year. To the best of my awareness, they're promoted regionally. They're done either at Microsoft offices, or in some instances at local community colleges, etc.
>>
>>Carl Franklin and Richard Campbell of DotNetRocks have been doing a huge roadshow and are visiting CodeCamps, .NET User groups, etc. The CodeCamp attendees get incredible value (session content that's comparable to formal conferences), and the speakers get a chance to interact with the developers. The speakers are usually a mix of major face names, people known on the regional level, and new speakers. There's a big one coming up in Seattle very soon.
>>
>>The ones in Boston and Philly gave me the kind of "rush" that I felt when I attended Fox conferences. I learned some great tips, and walked away knowing that I was able to share some things with others. Also made a few potential business contacts.
>>
>>Repeat, I am not making any kind of comparison of "which is better". They're both great.
>>
>>Kevin
>
>At least you seem to see what I'm saying. The .NET group get togethers may indeed one day be like a Fox experience, and for some, it may already be there. I personally don't have plans to have to stick around in this industry long enough to find out.