JVP

>>Given the choice of technology - one that is language specific and one that is not - all things being equal, I will choose the generic approach.<<

I suppose you speak Esperanto in your daily life, then.

I'm afraid the generalist philosophy has been tried and discarded in almost every sphere of endeavour known to humankind, except possibly medicine. It was Wells who said that "the essence of civilisation is specialisation". He was right. Targeted tools and people are not "better" but they can do a better job because they can afford to focus on their niche and get very good at it. Specialisation is the sign of a maturing industry/profession or individual. The populist "generalist" or "multi-skilling" theory we see today is another "dumbing down" idea to diffuse expertise and keep plodders looking good.

Fact: ADO is SLOOOOOW compared to the dedicated mechanisms in tools like VFP, Delphi and increasingly Java. If you use ADO everywhere, you'd better have a better explanation for the cost you are imposing on clients than the "fact that it is generic" and therefore necessarily better.

JR