>>>>Jerry,
>>>>
>>>>I decided to bet my future on .NET. Just paid $1100.00 for the VB connection in Orlando, Fl. I read VB.NET book and now in the process of finishing the introducing .NET book.
>>>>
>>>>I love the promiss of the .NET !
>>>>
>>>>Can you tell me where I am wrong..? I do not want to spend the time, money and energy in product that will "comes crashing down"
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>Dave,
>>>>>I would certainly see to it that I had more than one tool in my box.
>>>>>But, as far as VFP being around... Have you noticed that DOS is still with us?
>>>>>I have no doubt that when I retire in 10-15 years I will still be maintaining 'legacy' VFP apps, be they from version 6 or 7 or 8. I think version 8 may be the last one, but the nice thing, IMO, is that Microsoft has pulled VFP out of the the Visual Studio .NET group. It won't go down when the .NET comes crashing down. Any company foolish enough to put their data onto the Microsoft ".NET" deserves to lose control of it, just the way Microsoft handed their family jewels over to the Russian hackers. Fat-client-server solutions to business problems will be around for a while.
>>>>>
>>>
>>>I doubt the entire .net platform will come crashing down. I think it's going to go through some iterations, for sure!
>>
>>It does not matter how much of the .NET comes down. If you or your clients or vendors can't get on the WHOLE .NET might as well be down.
>
>If anything brings down .NET it will lack of user acceptance. A lot of the VB guys are really miffed about having to learn a new language!

And, you can't blame them.

They are being yanked around like a dog on a chain.

And what about the consumer? How many will put their sensitive data into "the clouds" on a Microsoft web server (or anyone elses) only to have it held hostage while escalating 'license fees' and 'per-use fees' are extracted from them. The only ones with free access to ANYONES data will be the Russian hackers who already own microsoft.com.

The NYT has an article about a coder who was working with MS on SOAP, but near the end of his collaberation he noticed that MS snuck into the code limitations that restricted optimum use of SOAP to those who use MS tools only. He vented his spleen on NYT, and on his webpage, DaveNet. Microsoft is doing its best to gain total control of the internet and, in effect, make it propriatary property. Embrace, and then if you can't Extend, then Extinquish.