<
Is this particular niche better or worse than most others? I see no objective evidence of this one way or another.
>

Then you are blind...

>
Moreover just like almost everything else, software developers in all areas are affected by the underlying business and investment cycles that, despite what you may believe, are not much better or worse insulated by the choice of what particular technology to study or use next.
>

Affected yes...but in different degrees....


In the aggregate, this "niche" is WAY down from where it was 5 years ago. If you don't see that, then you are blind. Then again, you may be one of the few that has not been adversly affected by the decline in available Fox work. Perhaps you have had at least one fat project in the past year or so???? You know, if you look hard enough, you can find PowerBuilder niches too...