>>One of the reasons I am interested in python is >the "read/understand immediately" concept baked into much of >the language, coupled with code not needing much redundant >info.
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>My travels into the python world have been very rewarding. So I agree. But I have attempted to keep an open mind. What really makes me wonder is why the folks on this list do not look to other languages as replacements

Because just looking for a replacement will not further your abilities to produce money earning stuff. Most of the users here have found a nice ecological niche and looking for the next one might mean leaner times.
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>I have read many threads discussing replacing VFP. Every time it comes down to .Net vs VFP. But why? If you accept that job availability is the big mover - then java should be the winner. Dice and Monster always report more java jobs.

This is definately true over here - but at least for me working in the java places is quite often coupled with a mental state of the project team I find less enjoyable. The rigidity of java compared to dynamic languages is sometimes only a small echo of the mindset accompanying the slow progress in overarchitected stints.

>Sun and IBM have great java tools that include easy data access.

Personally I think the trend to ORM crystallizes development to early and partly wrong level - while business requirement should decide the data structures, I find modeling them at the design time at the table level helps me miss treacherous water. And some of the great paying jobs still try to make waterfall work. Good for stretches of time, but falling into the (t)rot yóu get assimilated<g>.

>If ease of writing code then you expect the list folks to choose almost any language other than .Net or Java. But that is not the case. Looks like the list folks are looking to .Net.

That pool is getting smaller and jumping from the already burning pan into another or the fire of niche languages just on a whim is not wise. So for me .Net or Jacob-bridged java is the attempt to get the "batteries included" of python (and they are bigger batteries, just the cabling to vfp is not too solid<bg>).

>Most languages run on windows so that can't be the cause of the list members choosing .Net.

I have not looked recently, butthe frameworks on the java side were not good for delivering finished solutions - here the windows pond has better possibilities. The scene in java land is not good for the hired gunslinger but workable for the dwarfes always grunting in the mines.

>If the web was the mover then one would expect the list to choose Ruby or Air/Flex2. After all, using ROR is very hot these days and Adobe's products offer very rich interfaces. But no again the list chooses .Net for web apps?

compared to PHP 3 to 5 years the programming model of ASP.net is great. BUT you feed from a source with a fishing hook included. That is a niche as well. Currently I have not found another niche more comfortable to my special skills and personality traits (including the not so nice ones).