>>As Machievelli noted, when the Prince is weak, the Dukes will fight among themselves.
He's more often quoted as advising not to put trust in princes as they will plead expedience while spilling your blood from a safe distance. ;-)
> there have been successes lately. ScottGu has been bringing out a series of products that would have been impossible to produce (what? give away free controls? why?). And Jim Hugunin opened the door to not only IronPython, but IronRuby and IronJS. The latter 3 are underfunded, to be sure, but that they exist (under the Apache license!) is a miracle. In other words, a couple of the Dukes on our side are in the ascendency. So I think it's possible. Not probable based on what I've mentioned here, but possibile.
It has been suggested that originators lose interest when the impossible turns into the possible. ;-) It's as good an explanation as any for certain recent events. But as you say, we shall see.
"... They ne'er cared for us
yet: suffer us to famish, and their store-houses
crammed with grain; make edicts for usury, to
support usurers; repeal daily any wholesome act
established against the rich, and provide more
piercing statutes daily, to chain up and restrain
the poor. If the wars eat us not up, they will; and
there's all the love they bear us."
-- Shakespeare: Coriolanus, Act 1, scene 1
