>>Doug,
>>
>>
>>What, in your opinion, is a suitable alternative at this point and time?
>
>
>I do not even want to go there! I strongly hope I won't need to. Oracle's Developer 2000 is kludgy, ornery, and one cannot see the code. The learning curve is straight up verticle. I guess tools can be made too visual.

...and very popular I might add (at least in the Oracle camp which pretty much owns the enterprise market).