Harold;

Harold is my middle name by the way. :)

I started working with Fortran in the 1970’s and dBase II in 1982. I have had my share of experience. The most fun has been with FoxPro in all its versions. Many times I would be called to create applications after a group of VB developers failed. Languages come and go but management remains.

My present place of employment hired me for my back ground in VFP. However, they have a corporate policy “NO VFP”! So, I have been required to use Visual Interdev 6.0 as my development tool for ASP web applications. I am learning .NET as we do not use it and I will not become obsolete for anyone.

At one place of employment I worked 20-hour days seven days a week for three months. I completed the project on time by using another language. VFP would have reduced my working hours.

I am not a betting person but I feel that I can develop a complex data centric application in less time than a .NET developer can. I use a commercially available VFP framework by the way. My feeling is that when .NET has similar frameworks (they are just about here I believe) that will change. After learning more about .NET and using it professionally, I can give it a much better evaluation.

Perhaps I should have mentioned Java in my example or VB 6.0 and all those versions previous to that. Regardless as to the point in time Microsoft has always "advised" industry what to use. It might not be the best solution but Microsoft sales persons are trying to make the maximum profit for the company and not provide us with "the best solution"!

The tool I use is of no importance to me as long as I am paid. I really do not like management decisions that do not take technical and human values into consideration. My experience has been that the technical world through management or the lack thereof, all to often detracts from human values.

Companies in general do not care about how many hours you work as long as “its done”! After they burn out a programmer they can always hire another – especially in this economy where Silicon Valley (where I live and work) for example has lost 120,000 jobs.

It is nice to be there for your family but a lot of programmers I know are glued to the computer and have no time for such things. Having a balance in life is important to me but management has no such consideration. One must always be a "team member"! :)

Tom



>Tom:
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>I've been learning .NET over the past few months and I have found it to be a great development environment. Handling data, tool integration, productivity can be just as great with .NET as with VFP. I've been using Fox since 1985, wrote the WebRad book, so I have a decent background in it. But the sad fact is, MS in not so subtle ways, has made VFP irrelavent. Nobody in corporations even knows it exists and if you have to go into a job and start from scratch to educate them on the merits, you'll have a tough road ahead of you.
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>VFP is not immune from the same problems that cause a "death march" in any other language.In absolute numbers you hear about less horror stories because there are so few users of VFP. But proportionally, I am sure the rate is the same as in any other environment.
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>Harold
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>
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>>Chuck;
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>>You should look at this from a “professional perspective” according to the eyes of management. Forget the lack of advertising or even the direct statements from Microsoft that exclude VFP when talking to industry and business leaders.
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>>What does management like? Why they like to see smoke coming from your keyboard and you should work 120-hour weeks to show that you are a “company man/woman” (person if you prefer)! If you used VFP you would have a successful project completed on time and under budget with little if any overtime.
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>>By all means use any other Microsoft tool so you can have a budget overrun and work a few thousand extra hours with the possibility of failure. After all, at the corporate level Exempt Employees are not paid overtime. So we need to promote the use of non-VFP tools to enhance management’s position. After all, management is the group of “shakers and movers”. They shake Martini’s and move from one meeting to another.
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>> Microsoft says use .NET (or any other tool like Access) and management says, “YES”. Now management does not have to think or make serious decisions as to what development tool to use to be successful. When corporate heads view the decisions lower management make they hear the same line from Microsoft, “Use .NET”! In that way top management always knows that lower management is “doing the right thing” based upon Microsoft’s “advice”! Do not rock the boat in corporate America. It is not good for your career.
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>>By the way did you ever ask a Ford Dealer what type of car you should buy? Not a good analogy as there are many automobile manufacturers but there is only one Microsoft! Why even an analogy about God will produce the same result. Ask God which religion you should belong to! The trouble is there are people that believe in many gods.
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>>I think Microsoft does have the ear of industry in a manner that is unique to any entity I can conceive. There may be other voices but they are but a thin whisper in comparison to Microsoft.
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>>So my advice to developers at companies that do not use VFP is to give up your life, your family and the possibility of free time. Dig your head into the sand and be "a real programmer"!
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>>Tom