>Dear JVP
>
>Compare and contrast contributions like
>
>>>JVP:Investing in VFP strategies is like putting earings on a pig or sending a whore flowers. In the end, you still have a pig, you still have a whore.<<
>
>with Rick Strahl re dotNET. Your loaded sound bites and generalisations deserve a D- compared to others' freely offered thoughts based on experience.
>
>I must also observe that people like Strahl do not blow their own trumpets or create threads about themselves or any of the rest of it, they get on with it in a humble manner that makes people feel comfortable and empowered to ask technical questions. If anybody is competent to comment on dotNET it is the man who wrote his own web server framework, updated it to keep it reasonably parallel with ASP syntax, continuously adds great features, spends heaps of time using dotNET and basically does not use his superior knowledge to FUD others out.
>
>If all you can offer is the "Party Line" supported by slogans, thank you very much, we've all got that, can we keep the ether clear for people who have experience we can learn from.

Speaking of "experience":

I have a friend running a small start-up. I went in yesterday morning to do some server and network maintenance for him. We started chatting and he lamented that he wasn't looking forward to his first meeting of the day - calling his .Net consultant on the carpet for not doing as much as expected in the time allotted. Supposedly one of the best guys in town - a DevDays .Net presenter.

My friend's developers start trickling in between 9:00 and 9:30. At 9:30 sharp Mr. .Net shows up. White guy, 6'2, overweight. Shaved-bald head with 2 days' head stubble, right earring. Black jeans, black embroidered official Microsoft MSDN shirt. Left hand dragging flight attendant-style wheeled luggage. In right hand, official "Microsoft .Net Enterprise Architect" stainless steel thermal coffee mug.

My friend, his developers and Mr. .Net gather round to discuss the state of the union. The open-plan offices and long boring waits during server updates make eavesdropping simple. My friend is not a confrontational guy so he probes gently around the main issue - suggests that maybe his expectations were naive/unrealistic. Mr. .Net's response: "That's probably it. I'm an architect, not an implementor."

The time comes to demo what has been achieved to date. Mr. .Net unpacks his luggage, pulls out a projector. A developer remarks on its small size and brightness. Mr. .Net replies authoritatively, "It's a DLP projector. These are taking over; LCDs have inherent problems and are becoming obsolete." Developer asks, "What is DLP?". Mr. .Net makes a couple of tries at it (both wrong) then has to admit he doesn't know.

Demo is started. It's in C#, some sort of 6 layer architecture. At one point Mr. .Net says "Whoops - shouldn't have shown you that section of code, I just violated my NDA. You guys didn't see anything, right?" Weak laughter all round. At another point a senior developer questions an inheritance strategy - something about "implementation inheritance" vs. "interface inheritance". Mr. .Net takes the side of implementation inheritance, senior developer is on side of interface inheritance (apparently, a recent reader of "Design Patterns" by Erich Gamma). Mr. .Net appears to lose but subject is allowed to drop in interest of keeping demo on-track.

Demo reaches its climax. IE is fired up, a single page appears with two captioned but empty text boxes and a drop-down list populated with 1 item. Everyone seems satisfied, demo is concluded.

Everyone breaks for lunch. I happen to be in the hallway when lunch destination is discussed (lots of good restaurants in the area). My (white guy) friend suggests Thai. Mr. .Net says, "No, I can't eat Thai". My friend then suggests Japanese. This idea embraced by all except Mr. .Net: "No, I can't eat Japanese. Every time I eat Asian food, it's like they're trying to poison me." Everyone's faces fall, especially Asian contingent (1/3).

I didn't join them for lunch but in hindsight I wish I had.

This is the face of .Net in Vancouver on Monday, May 13, 2002.

My friend is betting his company (and lots of other people's money) on .Net.