Jeff,
>>Jeff,
>>
>>>>It's still a much smaller boat (VFP) dwarfed by comparison to the VB life raft (VB.NET). There will be a lot more VB 6.0/VB.NET development than there will ever be VFP so don't get too smug.
>>>
>>>I'm not so sure... I'd venture to say that before .NET, the number of VB developers who could achieve a
meaningfull database app (from start to finish) was much smaller than the number of VFP developers doing the same.
>>>
>>>I firmly believe that the number of VB developers have been
grossly overstated by MS. Where I work, there are at least six guys who have worked with Access running querries and custom reports. MS would consider these guys as "VB Programmers". Hell, they don't even consider themselves as programmers and for them doing stuff with VB.NET? Please.....................
>>
>>I'm currently of the opinion that .NET will cause the same kind of shakeout in the VB world that going visual did for VFP. A lot of folks never really did move their skill sets forward. I think that at that point in time VFP's star will rise more than most folks have anticipated. Maybe we should call it Visual Phoenix. <g>
>
>Nah, too much marketing hype for VB.NET and .NET in general will cause a much smaller shake-out. I also believe VB.NET and C# will land new converts whereas VFP landed very few non-FP converts. Also, remember that VFP wasn't marketed until version 6.0 causing a significant dwindling of VFP jobs.
No doubt about the monies being spent on marketing. Something like 1.2 billion? Regardless, I still think that the thinking processes of many of the developers will get 'stuck'. Has nothing to do whatsoever with the level of the quality of the product but with the notion that some folks simply won't be able to make the transition. I sure wouldn't mind a little of that marketing $$ going towards VFP - and who knows, maybe some is. It will never get the amount .NET does though. <g>
Best,
DD
A man is no fool who gives up that which he cannot keep for that which he cannot lose.
Everything I don't understand must be easy!
The difficulty of any task is measured by the capacity of the agent performing the work.