I think this is all relative. Depends seriously on the size of the app. Depending on that they could have done really good or really bad for that timeframe. I suspect this is a sizable application though otherwise it wouldn't have been a csase study in the first place. MS has to worry about somebody following app so there little chance that this is a nothing application.

6 months to learn and get an app out is excellent. But I'm sure a lot of that had to do with the quality of the developer you were working with. Those types of people are hard to find...

+++ Rick ---

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>>(WOW, it must be a huge project to take so long.
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>>18 months to learn a new tool - and to redesign a desktop app to a web-based app..... I would say that is pretty good. The assumption going on here is that there was 18 months of programming time. My guess is that a good chunk of that time was spent on analysis and design - as well as learning .NET.
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>>The ultimate point - it got done - and in a relatively timely manner as well.
>
>We did the same thing in about 6 months. We hired a C#/ASP.NET consultant to help with coding and to mentor me. Best money I've spent in a long time.