>SNIP
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>>Take two developers of roughly comparable intelligence, age, experience, etc. One has been working in Fox for years....the other has been working in Fox, then moved through maybe 2-3 major cycles of .NET and SQL Server. Both are asked to learn tool XYZ....who do you think is more likely to get up to speed quicker?
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>It just dawned on my that that statement is 100% correct. However, it doesn't necessarily have to have been moving to the different cycles of .net. It could have been java or anything else....the two developers don't even have to have originated as VFP developers, but any developers using a tool and sitting in a position of only ever using that tool and then using it at it's basic level...(unless they are one of those fortunate folks who just learn new concepts easily -- but those folks usually are doing just that -- learning all the time -- be it a new tool or a new language or something)

It's not only about learning other languages or tools, but it's also about learning strategies and best practices. Those apply to any new language you might come across and a good understanding of OOD and patterns and MVP and MVVM is extremely helpful.