>Michelle,
>
>I am sorry about your predicament and I am sure you have a tough decision to make. But since you have to go through the efforts of learning something new why not take a look at Java, JSP and Perl. Why reward MS further by going to VB or any other MS product. Why offer them your brains to abuse and get into something you don't like. From a competitive and financial standpoint you will gain a lot more by NOT using VB. Salaries for Perl and Java are at least 50% higher.

Good advice, FMPOV... You might want to add Python to that list. ;-)

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>For my part I am starting to look at Linux and have installed it already. I am retraining to develop apps using Perl, MySQL and Java/JSP. I will not commit suicide, but I will do everything possible and avoid using MS products.

May I offer an opinon? In your choice of a Linux distros, may I recommend SuSE 6.4?... Well engineered, very well put together. All the tools you mention come included on the 6 CDs, and can be installed during initial install or anytime there after by running YaST. I began with RH. My son tried Mandrake 7.0 a couple of weeks ago and I watched him install it. Very nice grapical install, but with a few 'backup bugs'. After that it was classic RH, and not nearly as well egnineered as SuSE.

About six months ago I made the decision you made and have been bringing myself up to speed in the Linux app development environment. There are a lot of RAD and GUI RAD tools available,and mostt are propriatary. The tools which are also the best of the breed, IMHO,are GPL GUI RADs: KDevleop and QtEZ. They generate C++ code directly, even from the GUI windows. KDE comes with VCS (version control system) built in, as does QrEZ, but the latters is not as well done. KDE is primo!

Michelle, eveything you need to come up to speed in Linux is in a good distro like SuSE. I purchased SuSE 6.4 for installation here at work, (the first install! Overcame lots of objections!) for $29.95 at BestBuy. You can also get it from Internet stores like CheapBytes or Chumbo.
(Don't misunderstand me. Every Linux distro I've used has been good (and extremely stable), it's just that SuSE is a cut above them all.)

Also included are Java and Perl tools. IBM distributes a copy of VisualAge for Java 3.0 for Linux on it's website. It's free! They also ahve a Windows version of the same tool that looks, feels and works IDENTICALLY to the Linux version. A very nice Java tool.
You can dual boot with WinXX until you feel comfortable with LInux, then you do what I've done: blow WinXX off my box and devote it entirely to Linux.
It fun!

Jerry

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>>Hi everybody. I haven't been around in a while. I did something really stupid. I left a good, comfortable job to take a chance on what seemed like a dream job. It turned out to be a nightmare.
>>
>>So, now I'm unemployed. There isn't a big FoxPro market in my area, so I'm going to have to find some new skills. Most comapnies around here do Visual Basic or C++. I think I'd have a better chance teaching myself VB, so that's the direction I'm headed.
>>
>>What I'm posting this for is to see if anyone has any suggestions on the best way to get up to speed in VB in a short amount of time. My husband has a couple VB5 books. Is VB6 close enough to 5 that they're usable, or do I need to get something more recent? Any good books for people that already know a visual language?

Most of the VB books are cookie cut from the same mold. They are rated at Barnes and Nobel or Amazon. VB has become pretty expensive for an enterprise developer version and what really griped me about VB was that the controls were pretty much third rate, forcing you to purchase 3rd party tools to get decent and reliable functioning. That adds further to the costs.



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>>I know any search engine would turn up thousands of VB resources, but I'm coming here because I want the opinion of fellow Foxers, not some reviewer that thinks VB is the be all and end all of languages. I know, first thing I need to do is lose the negative attitude towards VB. :)
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>>Any (helpful) suggestions on what I should do, VB or other, would be appreciated. I don't have much in savings, so whatever I do I need to do quick.
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>>Thanks,
>>
>>Michelle