Hi Robert,
"Hefty Price Tags" are almost unknown in Linux.
The best thing to use when coming up to speed in Linux is anything BUT PROPRIATARY software. The GPL (General Public License) is killing propriatary licensens for most mainstream products. Only VERY HIGH quality tools and niche applications (not general enough to merit a group of coders developing an Open Source version) will survive in Linux as propriatary.

VisualAge for Java 3.0, an IBM product, is an excellent Java development tool kit. The Linux version was (is?) free. (I read somewhere that IBM is going to release its Java version to the GPL ???) For C++ development KDevelop is unbeatable, and it's free! Borland is planning to release a Pascal GUI RAD for Linux called Kylix. They are bring over ALL of the widgets and appearances of the WinXX version. As a GUI RAD they also will be releasing a C++ version.

For backends, besides the commerical products (Oracle, DB2 & others), the most used are MySQL and PostgreSQL. MySQL is a very fast and light SQL complient backend with a small memory footprint. Several key ANSI 92 standards have only stubs, to maintain compatibility with the standards, but for many light to medium applications it may work well. The industrial strength GPL backend is PosgreSQL. It also has commercial support available. It is an OOP DBS with full ANSI 92 compliance. It features Transaction Tracking, inherited fields, UDFs, C++ extensibility, and much more.

For MySQL and PostgreSQL the TCO is nearly zero.



>Hello Jerry,
>
>Thanks for your input! I don't have any specific project in mind, just thinking about playing around with Linux and wanted to stay within a familiar development enviroment. I had not checked into it at any depth and did not realize the hefty price tag. I assume by the way you stated it, each client would need to make this investment. I have not checked out the other products you mentioned, but I will when I get a chance.
>
>Thanks again
>
>Bob
>
>>>Hello all,
>>>
>>>I saw an ad for Visual MainWin (by Mainsoft) on the back of the VC++ magazine.
>>>
>>>Has anyone tried this technology for porting to Unix? How fast is it on comparable hardware??
>>>
>>>There is a 30 day trial download, just wondered if I should bother.
>>>
>>>Thanks
>>>
>>>Bob
>>They say it won't be out till the Q1. Has it arrived yet?
>>
>>At $2,500 per seat it is not a trivial investment. But, for 30 days you can try it for free, so you have nothing to lose but your time.
>>
>>Are you currently selling a WinXX based niche app and you want add Linux to your market share? The end product, in native Linux binary compatible with RH 6.2 (which would make it compatible with most Linux distros), carries with it the Win APIs, so they claim your app will look and run just like the WinXX version. What about backends? Does your app require one? Is it, or does it have, Linux compatibility?
>>
>>Lastly, why not port the source and use KDevelop or Glide?