To me as a customer, I will place very much interest on who has the largest following of user base because that would make me think the support help from other users will be better, and I wish I had a crystal ball to see who will be there 10-15 years from now, so I do not have to start over one day if my framework company has crapped out. It would be kind of like what happened with VFP. Do you have any idea about market share comparison?

Also, I must say that I am an in-house, one-main-app-on-a-LAN developer, so the web stuff is of zero interest to me for now, and I do not see it changing (now that could be a big laugh comment in the future, but for now I can say it with confidence). I do not write apps that are sold, and I do not have a customer base. Just me and 8 other users in our machine shop. We track all customer jobs and shop labor with one VFP app.

StrataFrame on has a 20 day trial. I am not a full-time programmer, it’s just something I love doing, but only get to do 10-15 hours per week, and then some at night and weekends. It’s like a hobby, but it is real, and every single aspect of our company’s daily activity centers around my app. It's just that I also have other responsibilities that are not compputer related.

Even with a good framework, would I need to consider a controls package like DevExpress? I can’t really see where the line gets drawn between the framework side of a package (to control data connections, binding, saving, and the common user toolbar strip to control it all) and any custom, enhanced, or framework integrated controls. Does MM or Strate use the .NET grid object , dropdowns, edit boxes, etc, or do they have their own that I would be sub-classing?

Also, how did MM get their own group on UT, and is that the only user discussion area for you package? Strataframe has a bulletin board style discussion forum format that I really like. I’ve used is on lots of other sites and it is a great user forum format that is open to everyone. Otherwise, people would have to find UT first, and then find MM .NET.




>Hi Matt
>
>I just thought that I would throw my 2 cents.
>
>Our group has been using the MM.NET framework for the past 4 years, and have found it an excellent choice.
>
>I think an important point to remember here is that there is no "right" answer to your question. It is more a case of "best fit". Also remember that an Application Framework is simply another tool and not a solution. It is up to you (using your tools) to create the solution.
>
>So in some ways exactly how an application framework does something is less important than its ability to provide you the mechanisms to alter that behaviour. This is all the "..ilities" ie extensibility, flexibility, scalability etc that need to be considered.
>
>I mean look at what Microsoft is doing with the .NET framework itself. They are programming to interfaces and not implementations so if you don't like what or how the .NET framework does something then override it and do it yourself. This is exactly the approach taken by Kevin and he's MM.NET framework.
>
>Built on a solid foundation of design-patterns, i found MM.NET to also be an excellent "teacher" of best practice coding techniques, allowing me to learn and grow as a developer while using this tool.
>
>In regards to learning curves, don't kid yourself, there WILL be a rather large learning curve with ALL application frameworks. It does take time, and the MM.NET forum here on the UT provides access to the entire MM.NET community (as well as Kevin).
>
>Just a brief work on training. Our group travelled to LA to participate in one of Kevins training courses. I would say we learnt just as much about Visual Studio, the .NET framework, OO techniques as what we did about MM.NET itself.
>
>I believe it is in these areas that the MM.NET framework excels and is very competitively priced.
>
>Regards
>Darren
>
>PS
>A very happy MM.NET user.