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>You mean MySQL and PHP are not mainstream products or technologies? Or you mean something else?

No, I don't mean that, I am just saying I am trying to leverage my training and experience into technologies that seem to be the most prevalently used and needed. I have used MySQL and PHP and both are fairly prevalent.

>Are you saying novell? I have nothing against Microsoft products. They are good but not superior enough IMO. I've seen products done in other platforms - mostly open source - and I could say they're even more excellent. The advantage of MS is that they have all the money needed to hype and preach about their products. Nonetheless, we are not here to abandone MS tech. We are just trying to see the other side of the coin.
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Yes, Novell sorry. OK, now damage control. I have nothing against Microsoft and never been anti Microsoft. I am not intending to say that at all. Microsoft has done a great job with many things but that is not to say they are the best at everything they do. Novell was a superior network OS in my opinion, but public interest quickly grew in the Microsoft network solution. I actually had a Novell network backbone but still had a Windows server for specific things and also a Unix server running Oracle. I wanted the best product for the use I was implementing, but in IT it is surprising how many non technical people have an opinion about what you are using. I invested many thousands of dollars in myself toward Novell and it did not turn out to be the longest lasting career move. I worked in IT for several years and enjoyed it greatly but it was hard to watch it all get torn out when I left because that person was a Microsoft paper MCSE and no other reason.

I was also highly critisized by many of my peers for programming in Foxpro. I was told if I wanted to keep working I needed to move on to other more mainstream technologies. I saw nothing wrong with Foxpro except at the time it wasn't owned by Microsoft. Like many others on this forum, I moved to dot net not because of pressure but I do not regret it. I am having a blast with C# and the dot net framework plus VS.

I have worked with MySQL, Oracle, MSSQL, VistaDB, Access, Fox, DB2 and others. MSSQL seems to me to be the most widely used and for whatever reason doesn't matter. If given a choice for any given project and MSSQL is one of the choices, I will pick it because the tools will be the most available and the knowledge also. This is not to say there is anything wrong with any of the others and many of those I listed are great products. Here is a good example however, the DataAccessLayer for MSSQL is readily available before something for MySQL.

I didn't mean to get on a soap box but wanted to make sure I wasn't misunderstood.
Take Care
Tim