>I was talking with some of the employees at a relatively new contract I have and they said that the boss (not exactly pointy-haired, but close) told them that they shouldn't look for answers for Foxpro issues on UT because it was a waste of their time; they should already know the answer or ask their coworkers or look it up in the help. I have been using UT as an extension of all the books, help and coworkers on site. He knows this, but never says anything to me as he sees the level I'm producing at. I think I would still be coding in FPW if it hadn't been for this environment. I'm curious if others have seen similar issues with management views on using internet (or UT specifically) as an ongoing Foxpro resource for their jobs. In some defense of the boss, I will say that it is addictive and I spend a certain amount of time (won't say how much) checking stuff out that has nothing to do with a current problem or even relevant to the department's projects. I still firmly believe that
>the client is better off for what I have learned to resolve issues, but I don't know...a little bit of contractor guilt going on perhaps...
>
>Regards, Renoir


1. Without in any way intending to disparage your co-workers, I strongly doubt that they have the breadth and depth of knowledge to match what is available here on the UT.

2. The UT is a resource. It's not a manual or book or help file -- but that doesn't mean it isn't a resource.

3. Assume that you have tried the manual/help first and don't have an answer. You could spend a couple of hours trying this or that, or digging further through your "traditional" resources. You could then ask a co-worker, find out that s/he doesn't know either and then both of you can spend some time digging out the answer. Or you can post a message, continue being productive with something else, come back and find your problem solved, and share your newly acquired knowledge with your co-workers. Even if you could have found the answer from your co-workers in the first place I can't see where trying the UT loses you anything (except that non-technical threads like this is going to cut into my evening golf tonight)

4. The extra info you pick up here can prove invaluable in the future. I work in a strictly FPW 2.6 environment supporting a legacy system which will eventually (but won't be done for at least two more years) move to Java on the web. There was a sudden requirement to rewrite a Visual Basic system (which nobody here can properly support) and with what I have learned here lurking over the past year and a half, plus some additional help from people here ( thank you all) I was able to get it into VFP on time and under budget.

5. To those whose bosses seem to think they should know everything....there is an old saying that "knowledge is power." In our world, that's not completely true. Power is knowing where to find knowledge -- and the UT has empowered me to be significanly more productive than I ever could have been without it.