>Don't know if sad is really the word. I read an article almost 10 yrs ago that mentioned how many programmers burned out at age 40 and moved on from the IT industry.
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>Things in the industry are changing at a rapid pace. You no longer can learn Cobol, get a job and stay employed that way thruout your career.

Perry, it was the few-and-far-between COBOL programmer who took that career path, so why trot it out as the base?
Fact is, the computer industry has changed far more frequently, for a longer period, than probably any other industry. An argument can be made, I would say, that it has slowed considerably in the last 5 years or so. Yes, hardware has progressed dramatically in capacity/speed/price and that may contribute to a perception of a higher pace of change.
But there have been no killer apps for a good while now. MS may have delivered significant change rate with .NET, but what would one expect for a 'product' barely 4 years old. It still looks like MS hasn't achieved the adoption rates it wanted, what with JAVA and Linux and ??? offering still competition and the majority of computer management folk no longer keen to change just for the sake of change.

NO ONE is immune from job loss today. Just look at GM and Ford and the hundreds of companies that preceded them. And outsourcing is only now getting momentum in many industries, so anyone who think he has it made in the shade likely is in for one big surprise. India and China have the people and the low low wages that attract all businesses needing to continuously declare exhorbitant profits in order to retain high share prices.

I'd hazard that MS would provide the Chinese (and Indian) companies all kind of .NET tools/experts free or cheap in order to get .NET in through the back door of companies.

VFP may be waning, but it still isn't clear that .NET is the sure bet. Unless, maybe, you live in China.



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>>>There were only 5 or 6 people in the VFP sessions last year. Not enough to justify a VFP track.
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>>>>Oh and by the way you too Jean-Rene are forcing us to use .Net
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>>>>There's no VFP sessions at DevTeach this year ;-)
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>>Hi Craig,
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>>I understand completely Jean-René's business decision.
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>>I was just teasing him. But in the end the VFP situation is just sad. No need to say more.