It's kind of interesting to see the differing views here. I actually agree with you for a change for the most part...
Just a little warning for those of you that are jumping headlong into .Net. The next beta changes things significantly and a lot of code you're writing now will probably not work any more, just like the preview code didn't work worth a crap in Beta 1.
That's to be expected of a beta, but I'm with you in that MS is doing a lot of stuff for the sake of change, not because it needs changing. I think the .Net architecture overall is a good idea and the right way to go. What really pisses me off is how different they made the object models. Basically, they're saying throw everything that you are familiar with out the window and relearn it all from scratch. This is not about high level architecture and thinking distributed. This is a whole different crop of people (probably coming from a Java background) building a product/architecture that results in a very foreign feeling front end (.Net APIs).
And worse many things take a shitload more code than it used to with complex object relationships required to do even very simple things. For an example, take a look at the various XML readers and the HTTP/TCP/IP access mechanisms. There's flexibility there but in a many cases these things could have at least made an effort to match existing objects in interface - hey, that's what the point of COM was, right? Build interfaces that don't expose the implementation. So much for that concept in real life...
Hell, there isn't even a DOM 1.0 compliant XML object in Beta 1! How much of a slap in the face is that alone after all the XML compliance talk from Microsoft?
I've been spending a ton of time with .NET and while there are lot of things I like, the process of being productive is extremely slow. Between looking up stuff in incomplete help files, looking at wrong examples and running in a dev environment that won't run acceptably on anything but a 1gigahertz machine getting excited about accomplishing anything is difficult... It's beta, right? Well, I hope the next beta is a huge step up - otherwise the dev environment is going to drag down the entire platform.
What's even worse about that is that even though there are a large number of support areas for .Net the quality of them is so pathetic. Compared to what ae're used to on almost any VFP support area, it's pretty sad...
I've gotten to the point where I'm not willing to waste my time on this stuff right now at least until the next beta pops up... Reading up - yes (looking at White papers and architecture), but writing code right now? Not yet...
+++ Rick ---
