Agreed. Constant change is the blessing and the curse of this profession, though, isn't it? I like being in a perpetual learning mode. It would drive me completely nuts to do the exact same thing for 40 years. Driving rivets or something like that. My idea of a hellish job is driving an airport rental car bus, circling the exact same route a hundred times a day. Sooner or later I would be sure to mow down a pedestrian.

>Ain't that the truth!
>
>I don't mind switching development environments: that's a one-time source of pain.
>
>But evaluating development environments, weighing them against all the information I've accumulated in the past 30 years of software development, is very painful: it's all shades of grey. I have the additional criteria that the development environment isn't primarily for me: it's for domain-expert developers who do the real work.
>
>Lianja, e.g., runs on the desktop as an X-Window client. Very secure, low tco, etc., but really... But both desktop and mobile client can run disconnected, and automatically (we'll see how that works..) sync.
>
>Since 2001, when I bought 6 .Net books, sat down in my living room to read them, and was shouting expletives the more I read (as in "how TF could they release this stinking POS! This is crazy..."), I've probably spent a year in time looking for solutions that meet the criteria. I thought I was close several times, but then the "run on any platform, on any device" mantra was raised (the iPad's success in the the Enterprise was the capstone), and it was re-evaluation time.
>
>My head is very tired... <s>
>
>Hank
>
>>They call that stuff between our ears "grey matter" and now I know why -- nothing is black and white, especially here.
>>
>>>Pyjamas + Dabo would give a great deal of freedom to get things exactly right. Whether the resources can be gathered to make it happen will be a question until the resources are gathered. It's Plan A in the sense that if given an equal opportunity to choose either, I would choose to control my own destiny. I'm working on it.
>>>
>>>Lianja will happen. Whether it will happen in a way that would give me (and the organizations I support) what we need will be a question until it happens.
>>>
>>>It's really clear in my mind. <s>
>>>
>>>Hank
>>>
>>>>In your reply to Thomas I get the impression pyjamas is plan "A". Now I'm confused :(
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>That's plan A. <s> Lianja is a plan B that's worth putting time into.
>>>>>
>>>>>>>Lianja (http://www.lianja.com) promises to be the killer developer system for which we have all been waiting.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>-- VFP compatible
>>>>>>>-- programmable in Recital Script, VFP, Python, Javascript (they obviously dream of Abstract Syntax Trees <s>)
>>>>>>>-- hit DBF's (they are a project within Recital, which has been doing xBase forever) or SQL
>>>>>>>-- WebClient automatically generated, runnable on any platform, any device
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>There are many questions to be answered, of course:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>-- will it really do all that?
>>>>>>>-- will they be responsive to developer needs?
>>>>>>>-- will the cost be feasible for both small custom development shops and ISVs with broad deployment?
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>If they deliver, I can't imagine a much better tool to move from today into the future.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>If they don't deliver, well, what ya gonna do?
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>As Recital, they have a history of stability, which I think mitigates the "do you really want to put your future in a company that might go away" factor. As their only modern product, I think the "what happens when they make the product go away because middle managers want to make their bonuses" also becomes moot.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>Beta 2 will be available in a couple of weeks, from what I have been told by Barry Mavin, who is CEO and Chief Software Architect (and has been so for at least the last 13 years -- they do have stability).
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>The purpose of this forum is primarily to inform UT users of what's going on with this potentially important product. It also have a purpose in providing a place for discussion when Lianja forum is closed (don't ask: they just don't understand community, even when it's explained to them).
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>Hank
>>>>>>
>>>>>>What happended to Dabo?