RE: Visual RPG vs. Other Visual languages was ->RE: Is RPG available on anyother platform ?

Tracy, Dan, Rob,

thanks for agreeing with me - you are all obviously very intelligent and
thoughtful individuals!  the rest of you don't know squat! <having to
surgically remove tongue imbedded in cheek>

Aaron,

> If your boss has given you rights to develop using VB why not use it for
> other projects more often?

My 'boss' at the time of that VB project was me.  I was a partner in a
small (now defunct) consulting firm.  but that was another time, another
place, back when untold .com riches awaited us all......

I (we) took the VB project then, because a client said they needed it done,
they wanted it in VB and our salesmen said 'sure we can that!!!'   I was
the closest thing we had to a VB expert, having already done the hello
world! ;) so I got to do it.

It became a 'loss leader' for us, but that was ok - i was happy for the
experience, and we got other business from them, using skills we knew how
to make money doing.

As I said before, my current 'boss' is a customer, and they have plenty of
things for me to do that are mostly greenscreen.  I did get to write an
RPG-CGI app a while back (i'd had real world experience with that, so I
wasn't fudging).  I've also done some really nifty stuff with FTP (using
Scott K's ftpapi open source project).  but, mostly I'm doing strait rpg
stuff - customizing a rather ridgid canned accounting package.  been here
almost 2 years, and they have no sortage of stuff for me to do. Wheeeee!

If I were to suggest that i write something in VB, I would feel like I was
cheating the customer.  I was contracted for my AS/400 analytical and
programming skills, and that's all they want from me.  they have a staff
with grabbag of various *nix, c, oracle, access, vb and notes weenies, who
can do that stuff for a lot less than they pay for my services.  Why are
they willing to pay my hourly rate, when they could hire someone in-house
for less than a third the cost?  because they've never had anyone (in-house
or consultant) who could produce a third of what i do at the quality i can.
They've probably just been unlucky, but I like to imagine that it's me ;)
If I were to try to spring a learning experience on them, thier ROI on me
would turn to crap in a heartbeat, and they'd know it.

not all of us have the luxury of being able to dabble and experiment and
improve thier skills on the company dime.  Back when we owned the business,
we encouraged learning new stuff, had an education budget and everything.
Those were the days...  Our staff were as happy, loyal and talented as any
in the business, right up until the day we had to tell them we were going
out of business.

rick