John;

An excellent idea! Life is too short to be engaged with arguments, which lead to lost time, negative feelings and little else. As I see it we have two camps – those that attempt to look ahead and those that bury their heads in the sand (or up his/her anal cavity). You will assist developers more by avoiding the emotion-based individuals who contribute nothing but FUD!

Your time is better spent providing answers to questions regarding the use of .NET. Those of us who are interested in .NET, etc. know where to find you. I wish you success on your endeavors in life and thank you for sharing your knowledge with others.

Tom



>I know I have said this before - only to return. This time however, times and circumstances are different. On one hand, I love VFP and what it can do. On the other hand, I recognize the realities that so many fail to recognize.
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>I have said all I can say. It has been heard and understood and at times, both well and not so well received.
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>To avoid dilution of that message - by getting into personal issues, it is best that I leave the Fox Community. The difference this time is that I will focus my attentions on VS .NET on forums here on the UT, DevX, and the public newsgroups.
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>Following my own advice, I will not dump VFP as a development tool. It is a cash cow I will continue to milk to pay the bills. I will not however make any more investments in the product. I have a choice - devote time to VFP which has seen far more days than it has ahead of it or devote time to VS .NET - which I think has a promising future.
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>I have paid the price in that much of what I have said for several years know has cost me some friendships. Of course, one could argue that in reality, those people were aquaintances and not friends. True friends have stuck by me with the feeling that some good came from "JVP keeping it real.."
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>It requires far too much energy to stay out of the personal issues here. Will I still have an opinion as far as VFP is concerned? Yes. The difference is that opinion will come from the outside - not the inside. By being on the outside, there is a much better chance that things will be viewed on an objective - less emotional level.
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>In spite of what some may think, I don't like being the center of attention. Yet, that is often where I find myself. I don't think much good can come from that. So with that, I will simply remove myself from the situation. No matter how personal things get here, I will take comfort that as far as my detractors are concerned, that is all they can do. I will not join the fray to defend myself.
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>The points I have raised, which have not been substantively addressed or refuted, stand on thier own. I don't say things in the hope of making friends. So, if people get offended or think I am the biggest asshole for saying these things, I at least can take comfort in knowing that it is better to be an asshole with a clue as opposed to just being an asshole... I see it as nothing more than part of the territory. Looking at the mirror, I can take comfort that I said what I believed and have excellent facts to back up that believe as being reasonable.
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>If I had 100 friends and had to give up 99 and only keep 1 - and in return I was true to thy self - that 1 friend was worth more than the other 99 times 10. I take pride that I chose a side, chose a position and stood up for it.
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>Good luck..