I wasn't meaning to fault Rick on any count. I admire what he does in getting to understand new technologies. He does us all a real service by running into the problems before we do: that's why the Kentucky blessing <s>.

My only point was that even within the .Net ecology, one is at the mercy of the vendor. Plus ça change...

And I don't mind the mini-lecture. When one has committed to a particular course, and it wasn't an easy choice to make, it can be painful to watch others equivocating. There is, however, a tiresomeness that comes from recent converts (and that is certainly not Rick), if you know what I mean. But that's all part of being in a community.

As for my Ph.D.: I learned my first programming getting my degree in psychology, and practiced for 25 years not including the 6.5 years getting the requirements out of the way. Managed Care (it's enough to make one want to move to New Zealand, I tell you <s>) devastated the mental health professions, cutting 57% of the benefit dollars by denying service, and cutting rates to the point that a fulltime psychologist would, after expenses, make less than (a lot less than) a driver for UPS or FedEx, some of whom were my patients. <s> When I couldn't pay the bills, I said a sad farewell, and in 2 weeks was working half-time in software development making more than I made fulltime as a psychologist. But that's the only reason I left -- I liked what I was doing then, just as I now like what I am doing. I guess in that sense I'm amenable to change. Heck, I'd change to VFP.Net in a heartbeat if it were done, and I've got the codeplex project to prove it, as you know.

Hank

>In fairness, RickS does seem to consider what MS says rather than simply repeating it and he has criticized MS direction on several occasions with merit IMHO. But yeah, the prejudice that not going with the flow indicates a personal fault or imminent disaster, does get tiresome.
>
>If we really want lectures about change, maybe we should ask the sorts of people who moved from other highly-qualified lucrative careers into IT, or back again. (Example: JVP who apparently is back in IT after earning a law degree, and I believe you have a PhD. ;-) ) That sort of real change may carry useful lessons. It's also a path that some of us are going to have to follow since the "change" of development from a profession into a commodity controlled by vendors now seems irreversible.