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>Yes ... "If the world goes the .Net path ..."; that's a pretty big "If".
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>.NET is the "OS/2" of web development. MS successfully positioned Windows against OS/2 and SQL Server against Sysbase; with .NET though, they're playing catchup and are succeeding in alienating their existing client base (particularly VB types) in the process.

VBers aren't screaming as loudly now as they were at first because MS has backed off some of the "enhancements" that had been planned for the product.

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>Everywhere I turn (book stores, coffee shops, relatives), I hear: Java, Java Beans, Servlets, Jave Server, etc.
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>Even the guy behind the counter at my bookstore is "telling" me to learn Java.

Java isn't all it's craked up to be. Periodically I read that Sun has changed something in Java that breaks the "write once, debug everywhere" mantra.

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>Most people will be buying .NET ONLY if they can't get a separate copy of VB or VC (like VFP) ... and they will resent MS if they have to pay the premium when they can't. Existing Visual Interdev developers may be willing to shell out for .NET, but probably only if it includes FrontPage ... Maybe.
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>This is one MS is not going to overtake (ie. Web development).

I disagree here. .Net will be successful, but it will take some time. Remember, this *is* Microsoft. Of all the things MS does, it does marketing best.

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>Word had it that MS had the best Java native compiler; they should have exploited that instead of trying to change the game.

MS didn't have a choice. The courts forced them out. What made their java compiler good were the Windows extensions.

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>VFP may be the only tool (from MS) left unbloodied.

I agree with this one. I sat at the table with Jim Booth at the end of DevCon last fall in Miami. His comment was "We've already bled...let the VB people bleed now".