REDMOND, WASH. -- Microsoft is poised to provide new tools to join multiple implementations of Active Direcotyr, but the company still stongly recommends against the practice because it can create unnecessary and problematic complexity. The mixed message has network executives scratching their heads as they try to reconcile the need to build directories that recognize orgainzational security boundaries with the cautionary advice from Microsoft. The confusion is coming to the forefront as Microsoft is introducting a feature with Windows.Net Server -- due for release by year end--that supports complex deployments of Active Directory. The feature, called cross-forest trust, lets users tie together, or federate, multiple directory "forests," which are collections of domains that house information about users, computers and other resources. Companies can use the forests to create walls of administrative security between business units or intranets and extranets but still let user sign on in one forest and access approved resources in another.As .NET becomes more and more NET foundation class oriented, its break from the old window OS will boarden. I have not heard Microsoft address the issue of backward compatibilty regarding COM, DCOM, or anything else. At a recent announcement about the upcoming .NET 2000 operating system, many IT CIO were concerned that Microsoft did not address this issue. It may be two soon to know exactly what to do regarding the question this thread is asking. I don't know whether to jump on .NET, remain legacy, or what. Eventually I may be forced to do something even if it is wrong. I would hate to waste valuable time pursueing .NET to find out later that Microsoft has withdrawn its commitment to it because .NET does badly in the market. Visual FoxPro and VB are both profitable products, but .NET has not yet gained the general acceptance and confidence of the market necessary to make it a profitable product. At this point anything I do whether it be sit tight and wait for some market indication as to direction, develope in COM, or jump to .NET is a gamble.