Mike

FWIW I agree that the next step in the evolution of IT is to empower users who may not need us as much as we have learned to expect. As any industry matures, "high priest" gurudom of whole chunks devolves into commodity.

Look what the Internet did for connectivity- few users know or care about parity, hops, routing or all the other cool bits we used to tinker with to get super fast 2400baud connections. Now we expect and rely on automatic connection between ourselves and (for example) UT in Canada without any concern at all about what happens behind the scenes.

Same with searching. Less than a decade ago, online searching used to be a highly technical task performed by formidable gurus in specialist libraries. You had to book an appointment and work with the guru to build a search. Now online searching is a (free) commodity.

Same with car servicing. Latest models will not need an engine service in the forseeable life of the vehicle- contrast with cars we bought just a few years ago that needed a detailed service regimen and armies of expert providers of same.

So we should expect the next phase in IT to empower customers in exactly the same way. Customer needs are effectively infinite and they want to to build their own requirements exactly as you suggest, without having to employ a "mechanic" every time.

If dotNET does not contribute to this, something else surely will. IMHO, anyway.

Regards

JR