Steve,

>2 weeks...real work? Is that realistic? (For someone who doesn't know .NET)

For the typical data entry type of app, yes it's realistic. I'm allowing two to three days to work through all of Kevin's tutorials, then the rest of the time to create a simple app or two for internal use using the techniques he just taught you.

All of the difficult data-binding stuff is handled by the Mere Mortals framework automagically after you set the properties and write a little bit of code in the business objects -- if you use his subclassed versions of the .NET controls.

Real work on an ASP.NET app might take a little longer, since you have a paradigm shift to deal with versus desktop apps, but if you already know some principles of designing web apps (which the original post indicated) that's not a stretch at all.

Getting down to real work without something like Mere Mortals to smooth the way is going to take you a lot longer. Some will say that you are better off to take the long route because you will learn the underlying framework better. I don't think so. With Mere Mortals, you will learn the essentials and also get productive very quickly. You can then spend the next year or so exploring all the .NET classes if you wish.

To me, it makes a lot of sense to leverage the work of the pioneers -- that's what you do when you use a VFP framework or a product like West Wind or any of the other VFP Web dev tools. Sure, I could have spent a lot longer a few years ago figuring out how to do a web app with VFP, but with Web Connection, I was productive in a couple of days with simple data entry and query screens. Same principle I'm talking about here.

And, just in case anyone is wondering, I don't have a marketing or kick-back arrangement with Kevin or Rick. I just greatly respect their work. :-)

>I almost took out my wallet and placed an order :) I do want to consider it.

Go to www.oakleafsd.com and download the Mere Mortals for .NET Developer's Guide. Just reading through that will give you good insight into how he's structured things and will teach some general principles very nicely. Also, Kevin's book on .NET for VFP Developers is a good add-on (www.hentzenwerke.com), but I recommend using the MM.NET framework as the core of your learning process, since it will make you productive in short order.