>>>I cannot agree with your statement above. ASP.NET plus C#/VB.NET plus SQL Server is not unproven by a long shot...
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>It IT terms, I agree. In normal scientific terms, I disagree. Imagine if a drug manufacturer brought out expensive "Tiflevon" to cure cancer, using a few hundred individual success stories as "proof" that it works. Wouldn't be allowed by the FDA, or accepted by physicians. But this happens in IT all the time. As a result, it takes years of live use and a slow groundswell of good and bad rumblings to discover the truth- take Powerbuilder, for example. This is bad for us and our customers.

John;

I think due to our backgrounds we are coming from different directions and even so we have similar points of view about this topic.

I have to agree about science and add engineering as a comparison to IT software. In my opinion IT is not mature from a hardware or software prospective. It has been searching and growing for let us say the last 40 years. Change is constant and most important is marketing. There is no technology in IT that is truly “long lasting”. What is here today is obsolete tomorrow. There is a sense of direction – to make a profit. There are many dead ends and nothing that is universal or enduring about IT. In some cases it is a solution looking for a problem.

When a company acquires a new chief for IT, existing technologies are often abandoned and those the IT chief favors are embraced. When the new IT chief leaves the next one does the same thing. Some companies survive this change and others do not. I have been there all too often!

Lots of money is spent on IT. Remember that Dot Com is related to IT. This whole IT thing is like a game. First there were main frames and IBM ruled through company MIS departments. Then along came the PC in is many iterations and gives the ability to break away from MIS and do things on your own or within a small or large group.

Twenty two years ago I wanted to change a report from our IBM 360. Our vice president was in charge of MIS. I was put on a list and told, “It will take 4 ½ years before we have time to get to your request”! So I build several IMSAI S-100 computers, bought dBase II and wrote my own program. Sure enough 4 ½ years after my request was approved MIS came to assist me. They were very aggravated when I told them I did not want any assistance from them!

Innovation, and creativity are essential ingredients to a successful software project. The tool is not the greatest asset. The job can be done many times in spite of the tool used. Hackers and those that like to tinker were and still are an important part of IT.

Those with PhDs in computer science are introduced to the latest technology and obsolete tomorrow. Models constantly change as do methodologies and tools. This is a dynamic field and much like the “Wild West”, of the United States during the 1800's.

By the way the FDA is a mixed bag, and sometimes influenced by politics and big business. There have been several drugs rushed to market to “save us”, with little real testing of any significance having been done. Pharmaceutical companies want profits now, and send out lobbyists to congress and salespersons to doctors offices to hand out “free samples”. Some doctors are little more than pill pushers. Just one example is HIV/AIDS medication.

We have a doctor in Marin County whose specialty is cancer treatment. He approaches the topic from an individual perspective. Each patient is treated for the specific problem they have. He has a 100% success rate but the insurance companies will not pay him. His laboratory staff is very important to help identify the type of cancer the patient has. Most doctors would prefer to approach the subject from a textbook viewpoint. Next patient please!

Tom