First, VS2005 is a better product than VS2003. This may sound like an odd analogy, but VS2005 is to VS2003 as VFP5 was to VFP3I don't remember being unable to open VFP3 apps in VFP5. ;-)
Of course dotNET continues to get easier- no doubt about that. Bring on some decent local file handling stuff and many here have already stated their intention to reassess. The heat has gone out of it. Look at this thread- the usual culprits burst in guffawing and trying to cause trouble, but they were ignored.
"... They ne'er cared for us
yet: suffer us to famish, and their store-houses
crammed with grain; make edicts for usury, to
support usurers; repeal daily any wholesome act
established against the rich, and provide more
piercing statutes daily, to chain up and restrain
the poor. If the wars eat us not up, they will; and
there's all the love they bear us."
-- Shakespeare: Coriolanus, Act 1, scene 1
