Hello, I really want to learn the new .net technologies. I do need suggestions from you. 1. What kind of software should I install on my PC? I guess visual studio.net is a must, how about windows .net framework. Anyone can give me some detailed information or some good site to look at? 2.About the software, does Microsoft sell versions for educational prupose at a lower price? 3.I am thinking to learn visual basic.net, asp.net, c++.net and some C#. Anyone knows some real good books? ( I am pretty good at the old things: C++,VB, Java, ASP and etc.) I appreciate your help. Cindy

Hi Cindy, .NET isn't what it's made out to be. Microsoft focus on taking it's Windows XP PC software enviornment and integrate with with a Linux/Unix like filesystem and not focus so much on that over-rated .NET "platform" that has already existed for years. I'm not talking about Java. Actually, I'm talking about Perl. Most people think Perl is a language. But when it comes right down to it's core, Perl is the best "platform" you can get and it's the most widely supported "language interpretting platform" there is. It's interface to the IO and Filesystem, Memory, and CPU is unbeatable, and has proven itself to real hardcore software developears for many years now. I am the founder of Serving You Web Solutions, and Lightsurfers, Inc., both new nationwide Internet Service Providers. S.Y.W.S., doesn't spend Millions of dollars on automation systems and CRM technology, or even Telephony Systems. In fact, we hired a team of software engineers to are seasoned in perl, to get all of that done, at a fraction of the cost. It was all done in Perl. Our entire business operates on a "platform" we developed entirely of Perl. Suprised? Don't be. Perl has solved major problems for companies like ours for years. From the customer 800 # switching based by region, to our CRM and Helpdesk technology, to our Database systems, to our Billing & Invoicing Systems, to our Accoung Management technologies, we own the foks at Apache, MySQL and especially to the the thousands of folks behind Perl a great deal of thanks for providing us the tools to get the job done, ultimately saving our company over 2 and a half million annually. I think Bill Gates deserves the money he earns, yet I don't thing his company should take over the entire Internet's infrustructure using a system "platform" written in the .NET architecture. This phase of Microsoft will pass too. Remember Java? If I were you, spend some time researching Perl. You'll find all the solutions you'll ever need. In fact, almost any task or automation process or software you can think of has already been done.. and it doesn't have to be compiled to run. In fact, it can be run on any computer equipted with the free distributed perl interpreters. Did you know that Microsoft Windows XP uses DHTML, XML, JS, VB, an ASP variant and other Microsoft Technolgies, making up the entire operating system? All of these were actually aimed at integration with websites.. yet they beautified their XP os with it. Freaky, ey? I wish you the best of luck on all of this, and I feel that once you just give Perl a chance, you'll see why thousand of people will refuse to switch to something "promising". Perl didn't make these promises that Microsoft does, instead it was and still is work in progress. Websites running Perl, on the Apache Web Server, running on a Linux, FreeBSD or another Unix type OS are the least hacked because they are much hard to hack than a Windows machine or any other machine for that matter. (of course, it depends a lot on how the server is configured also.) Let me know if I can be of any further assistance.

Yikes.. Ask 3 simple questions and get an essay as a reply! ferdy

Ferdy. Nicholas' reply was being helpful. Was yours?

Real answers and a bit of postulating... re: q#1 -- the .NET framework is a must for testing applications developed with the .NET IDE. The .NET framework will coexist semi-peacefully with Visual Studio 6. I've experienced some instability with Windows 2K but I can live with it. Ideally, install .NET framework and V.S. .NET on separate machines. Other software? Get through the MSDN tutorials on .NET and C# first, then look for C# extensions if you're still interested. There isn't any current .NET courseware that (in my opinion) is any better than the MSDN stuff. re: q#2 -- Your .edu bookstore should have Acedemic Edition .NET products at reduced prices. If not, MS's web site has more info. re: q#3 -- Again, this is my opinion only. MSDN .NET tutorials and periodicals are currently the best resource for .NET development languages. USENET groups are also always a *great* resource. More books may be published soon, but I haven't found a C# book yet that is any better than the above. I don't have a flag to wave for any other os or language... but I do agree in principle with Nicholas. Let the .NET fever pass, it most likely has no great future except for intensely web-centric applications. Pros: the integrated development environment does bring together a diverse set of languages. Web applications are easier to develop within the framework. Cons: steep learning curve and (this is the worst, IMHO) all of the languages are translated to a common intermediate language before compilation. A necessary, yet ugly, compromise to get these lanuages to come together in an IDE. C# (and even C and C++) in .NET have become verbose and more arcane, closer to OLE and COM in syntax, with no appreciable extension of functionality. The web craze has imploded, but .NET has a niche market for Internet-only applications. Standard desktop, database, and enterprise applications are more easily developed with another framework.

A bit a clarification... I wrote: Ideally, install .NET framework and V.S. .NET on separate machines. I meant: Ideally, install .NET framework and V.S. .NET on a machine dedicated to .NET development, and V.S. 6 (if needed) on another machine.

oldschool: Thanks very much for your detailed answer. Also thank Nicholas for his valuable advice. They are very helpful. Cindy