George,

>I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to vent as I did below.< g >

Hey, like you said, its the end of the week! *smile*

>Nobody, not even Microsoft itself, knows if .NET is going to fly. It could turn out to be another "Microsoft Bob". I doubt it, however. Whether or not it gains the acceptance of the previous versions of Visual Studio is another question entirely.

Absolutely, and I do worry that MS is trying to make it a foregone conclusion by pushing it down people's throats -- at the expense of other (possibly more appropriate) tools. But I guess that has been going on for some time.

>True, but you wouldn't be SOL until four or five years from now.

Well, the ultimate timeline is the 5-10 year horizon. A long time, I know, but we are looking at it, right or wrong.

>Joe, unfortunately, I doubt if anyone authoritative can give you a statement like that. It has been, and probably will be, Microsoft's policy not to talk about any future version of any product beyond what's currently being worked on. Some have tried to pervert this policy to support statements that this product or that will be discontinued after the next release.

Like I said, it doesn't have to be the FINAL word on it, just a better and more accurate word than what they have already heard from the MS rep. And I agree, any speculation like that, especially from an MS rep, is shameful.

>I hope that Ken does too. However, I'd say that the Ballmer video can represented as Microsoft's "official" position as opposed to the unofficial speculation of others.

Yeah, that has already been forwarded to the managers in question. I am not sure what else we would need...

Thanks,
JoeK