>>>He echoed what Ken Levy had told us, that we must start thinking in terms of multi-tiered apps. Most likely the business case will be for HTML/Web front-ends. And he said that while VFP while a very capable at front-ends and back-ends is being positioned as a middle-tier tool.
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>>This is very disturbing to me.
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>>-Jeff
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>Why?


First of all, I'm not yet completely sold on MS current DNA architecture. It is in a state of flux and I believe that their current technologies are intermediate at best and that some new stuff is on the way - namely COM+, STORAGE+, and FORMS+ (See CNET article on the Las Vegas Biz Apps conference).

What concerns me is that MS seems to be urging us to learn technologies which may have very short life spans - technologies which may become obsolete before (or shortly after) we have a chance to fully learn and implement them. Keep in mind that MS is in the business of creating new technologies (their R&D budget is how many billions?). As such, they sell this stuff to us at all points on the cycle and not too many of us can keep up with it all. The question is to what extent should we. This brings me to my next point:

I am most definitely not sold on the muti-tiered app hype. While there is no question that there are entities which can greatly benefit from muti-tiered architectures, it is overkill for many others where two-tiered-VPN solutions would work just fine. As a consultant, a sure fire way to piss-off clients is when they realize you have sold them a solution they really didn't need. But then again, there are those who lack professional integrity and make it difficult for others. I wonder if MS is concerned about this - nah, I doubt it. It's our problem and our biggest challenge.

-Jeff