Sorry, John, for the delay in responding. Somehow I missed this post.

>You know JK...I was reminded of something that happened 4.5 years ago that I totally forgot about - but should not have given the topic discussed here.
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>In 1999, I interviewed at MS. Needless to say, I did not get hired. Subsequently, I found out why I did not get hired. The issue was whether I was whether I was a strategic thinker or not.
>
>Now you may ask..how did that come up as a controversey?????
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>You see JK, I interviewed for 2 positions - which was not the normal thing to do. The one job was a PM type position on Visual Studio. The other was a PM type position on the Fox Team.
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>To make a long story short, one of the VS people - who I will not name - but if you email me off line - I will tell you - said this to me:
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>
>"Why are you bothing to interview for the Fox Team? That product is going nowhere. Why would you bother..."
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>In the end, everything worked out. Just expressing an interest in the Fox gig sealed my fate with the VS team. As far as the Fox team is concerned, well....lets just say that at least 1 person did not want me on the team - and that was enough to get me black-ball'd. I don't know who it was and quite frankley, I don't care. In the end, everything worked out for the best.

Perhaps you read too much into it. In the MS interview process, one "no hire" is enough to do you in sometimes, regardless. It's not a blackball. As to the person who questioned why would you bother with the Fox Team, what the heck did they know? If you'd gotten the job you'd be 4.5 years into your career here...and positioned to move to wherever your heart desired should VFP not be your love anymore.

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>The point JK????? I think you get the point... If people INSIDE MS say that about one of its own products - why is my conclusion that people could indeed say that it is career suicide to continue with Fox be so unreasonable.

Hey, like any other company, different product areas talk crap about the others. I can understand you had a disheartening experience that may make you lean negative but I stand by my points: Having VFP experience is great but to stick with one tool is career suicide regardless of the tool.

>You would have to admit that career wise, it would be far better to hitch your horse on the .NET team.

I would have to admit that, for sure. .Net is the development umbrella for a host of MS tools. There are so many things you can do with .Net and so many areas that the whole .Net concept can evolve into.


>Keep on the look-out for a follow-up private note as well...

Feel free. Your feedback is always welcome.