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>>You're right, Craig, but there are more options. It's just that the VB crowd was pushed as hard into considering options as they have been recently.
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>>I think they will opt for a cross platform tool to leverage the applicability of their skill set, and avoid getting into a single vendor propritary trap again. I see Java taking up a large part of the slack, since it is more platform and vendor independent than many other tools.
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>>We won't know until the middle of the fall, or the end of the year, if Delphi6+ and/or Kylix will attract the ex VBers (or any others!). A key issue is the back end, and how seamlessly it connects to the GUI front end. Drivers for Oracle and the other major back ends will be present, but I am not sure they will be in the less expensive versions. And, will they be smooth and easy to use? Time will tell.
>
>Borland is pumping lots in Delphi to attract the VB crowd. They know the iron is hot right now and are ready to strike.
>
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>>That's why VBers could do a lot worse than VFP7, and they won't get sucked into developing for the .NET, which I think will be a failure, despite Gates Billions(tm).
>
>IMO, .Net will succeed. I've seen several polls lately that show developers are going to adopt it.

It isn't the developers that will determine the success of the .NET.

I haven't met to many folks who think it is a good idea parking their data on Microsoft servers, only to pay a fee to access it, or have it held hostage against increasing fees for pay-per-use or metered access to executables. Some data would never be moved there, like tax or other personal and critical data.

Gone would be the need to create CD copies, have a large support staff, or a large development staff. Large layoffs loom at Microsoft.

Also, consider what would happen to the net if Microsoft decided to create and sell a 'WinPC' that was essentially a PC without a BIOS, OS or HD, but had a DLS connection to the internet and an FTP boot program on a chip that would, on powerup, bring down from the MS website the BIOS and OS for the PC. Without access to the Microsoft's BIOS and OS site the box is useless. A discount will be given to those who access the .NET using Bill's WinPC, penalizing those who use conventional general purpose PC. Would coders pony up and pay hourly for the right to write applications for clients? Applications that would be written on the web, tested on the web and run from the web? Want to pay Bill hourly for the right to learn and putz around with new ideas? I would bet that Gates would even volunteer to give the WinPC to every user free of charge. What a deal.

BUT, supposed Microsoft and others (recording industry, for example) got laws passed outlawing the manufacture and/or repair of general purpose PCs, because it was a device that could make 'illegal' copies of software and threaten IP rights.

MS would impose a 'tax' on every internet transaction, on every hour of time spent writing, testing, or running applications, just the way they had a 'tax' on every PC sale regardless if the consumer used WinXX or not.
Scarry.
Will it happen?
Tell me that folks can't get a copyright on public law and I'll believe it.
http://www.uniontrib.com/news/uniontrib/sun/news/news_1n13own.html