Laura Barker's commentary, "Not Performing Due Diligence Has Companies and .NET Paying the Price," on the .NET Developer's Journal Web site was echoed by a number of developers. See her article and all of the responses at (www.sys-con.com/dotnet/article.cfm?id=389).

.NET's Imminent Demise
The article really gets down to the critical problem for .NET growth. Like any technology, the first couple of years are more hype than substance. .NET hype is based on Web services and cross-language support. Web services haven't truly taken off, and VB programmers are more confused than ever. Now any .NET project has the extreme risk of hiring developers who are wet behind the ears – a problem that Java doesn't have.
Carlos E. Perez
ceperez@codeaudit.com
CodeAudit Corp.

Change Is Tough
Change is tough, no matter what it is. Acceptance of something new will always take time. And the threat of healthy competition to Java will always invoke negative comments. After three years, .NET is not going away – and will only strengthen over time.
Tim Hodgson
tim1@exclamationsoft.com
ExclamationSoft

Remember Config.sys?
I remember when config.sys went by the wayside, and IT pros scoffed at the Registry taking its place. But what did it do? It simplified life for a lot of people. I no longer had to teach all my relatives how to edit config.sys and autoexec.bat.

.NET is a refined development environment. It wasn't until .NET that I was finally able to jump into programming with the small amount of time I had for personal education. Am I a pro? No. Is this a beginner's environment? No. It simply offers a wider range of options for developers with many possible learning paths. But it's new, and there is learning involved. And I'm enjoying the ride.
Posted by Mark Kenyon on Oct. 1 @ 08:46 AM

.NET Blamed Too Easily
I'm one of those wet-behindthe-ears .NET developers. It's no shame; everybody starts somewhere. The article discusses an attitude that puts a burden on potential job seekers: you need experience, but you can't get experience if you haven't got any (kind of a vicious circle).

What's worse is that business people will dismiss .NET due to mismanagement of IT resources or "hype" planning. Blaming .NET is simply covering their incompetence.

Inexperienced developers are intrinsically not yet 100% competent, and that is understandable and fair. I don't cry over this; businesses have the right to hire only experienced people to protect themselves. Therefore newcomers must be coupled with mentors or some very knowledgeable (and experienced) .NET developers.

If a manager dismisses .NET based on bad experience(s), is it the fault of the technology, the inexperienced developer, the staffing firms, or the manager? Sorry, but it is ultimately the manager's fault. If a manager dismisses .NET without proper "experience data," then that manager is a goof.

Such managers shouldn't cover their own incompetence by using people who can't answer back or aren't even aware they are being dragged through the mud.
Jean-Michel Granier
jmg757@yahoo.ca
Informidable Ltée