Transitioning From Windows to Linux Development?

truthsearch asks: "I've been a professional Visual Basic developer for 6 years, working on two and three tier systems and also web applications. Two years ago I tried Linux and went from being a fan of Windows to an aspiring developer of Linux (or at least Unix) applications. My company has just announced their complete acceptance of moving everyone to .NET and so I want to leave ASAP. I'm even willing to take a pay cut to leave Microsoft software development. So if I were to not contribute to OSS or take time off to get my masters (in CS of course), what's the best way to transition from professional Microsoft platform development to Linux? Are many companies hiring Microsoft developers with little Linux experience to assist in corporate migration? With online postings requiring 3-5 years Linux/C++/Java experience how's a Windows developer supposed to transition? Is my only solution to stick it out here while I contribute to OSS for the experience?"

Comments

*winces*

[CableModemSniper]

I've been a professional Visual Basic developer for 6 years, working on two and three tier systems and also web applications.

Man I feel sorry for you, their gonna have a field day with this one. b

Re:*winces*

[__aafkqj3628]

I'm a professional VB (and recently VB.NET) developer for a long time too, it's not that bad. Honestly.

Re:*winces*

[Anonymous Coward]

I quite an ordinary guy. No big muscles, no huge dick, not even particularly handsome, but I'm a lucky person. You know, the kind of guy that fun things always seem to happen to. I can't remember the first time I real- ized that I was lucky, but I certainly remember one night in New York City, late in the evening when I was doing a little Bar hopping, when I walked into the local bar and seated myself.
I was expecting to have a regular Friday night but the fates dealt me a new card that night. I was on my second round when a woman approached my table and asked if the extra chair had been taken. I replied that it wasn't and she proceeded to sit down.

She had suicidal blonde hair and a voluptuous body. She wore a tight miniskirt and fishnet stockings and to flatter her large breasts she wore a low cut halter top that revealed a lot of cleavage. Her eyes were the wildest shade of green I had ever seen in eyes, very light and almost florescent but not quite.

We began to talk and continued a good conversation for about an hour when the subject suddenly switched to sex. (I think that she was the one who first brought the subject up.)

We discussed our personal sexual preferences for a while and we were both getting quite horny. (You know, flirting shamelessly with each other.)

Another fifteen minutes of steamy sex talk went by when I felt her leg sweep across my foot. Thinking nothing of it I continued talking. Then I felt her leg but this time it was rubbing up and down my shin. I got an instant hard-on and pushed my leg out a bit more, so as she had plenty of room to work on it.

We continued our conversation as her leg rubbed higher and higher making its way towards my crotch area. Then her foot raised and pushed against my groin. She slid her foot up and down in a very pleasing manner. After about two minutes of this she stopped and got up.

"I'm going to freshen up." She said seductively with a wink. I guessed what she wanted me to do by the sparkle in her eyes, so after she had been gone for a couple of seconds I got up too and went off in the same direc- tion. I was in the back halls of the bar trying to find where she might be when I was pulled into a utility room. I couldn't see her but I recognized the scent of her perfume.

We where locked in each others embrace immediately like lovers who were going to die at any moment.

I slid my hand down her back, across her butt, and down her leg until I reached the bottom of her skirt. I slid my hand under and began rubbing her thighs. They were bare and I quickly discovered that she wasn't wearing any panties either.

As I was felling this bird up she was undoing my pants and sliding her hand under my boxer shorts. She rubbed my dick with those long delicate fingers I had admired before and made me so excited that I wasn't sure how much more massaging I was going to be able to stand.

I moved my hand on down until it came to the outer fringes of pubic hair, then ran my fingers through it and came to her juicy cunt. I parted her vaginal lips with my middle finger then slid it in. What a delight to feel her all lubricated for me. I love that special slickness that a horny woman has when she's ready to be fucked. It makes me crazy.

She began to move her hips up and down shoving herself on to my finger. She made noises similar to purring as she got more and more excited. Her grip on my cock tightened as she was about to orgasm.

Finally, as she came her cunt juices flowed out in barrels covering my hand and down her inner thigh. Then my pretty baby started to stroke my cock in earnest.

I slipped my fingers out of her honey pot and tried to dry them on my shirt. Before I could react my little fuck doll slid down to her knees in front of me and placed her lips on my dick. She slid her mouth over the head of it and began to bob that pretty blonde head like there was no tomorrow.

It was like an erotic torture. She managed to take my full length in one swallow gagging just a bit. I could feel the head of my dick going down her throat which was a lot like entering a pussy.

I came about a minute later after one of the best blow- jobs of my life. There was no way I could have held out any longer, she really knew what she was doing. (She must have had a lot of experience, the way she played me like a musical instrument.)

After I came she stood up in front of me. I could hear her heavy breathing and could smell my come on her breath. I could tell that she was still as stimulated as I was. So I pressed her against the wall and slowly shoved her down to the floor of the utility room. With out asking I lifted her skirt and climbed on top of her small body.

I heard her moan as I arranged my dick at her opening and I readied for the wildest fuck of my lifetime. Pushing I entered her little piece of paradise with full thrust. She screamed with pain and pleasure as my cock shoved its way home, but after a few more strokes the noises she made were those of lust.

As my dick pounded her cunt my hands found themselves fondling her firm tits. (I had torn her blouse open. I can still remember the sound of her buttons flying around the room.)

After a minute she began to get more and more excited and clamped her shapely legs around my body and started to thrust onto my cock, enabling maximum penetration. On one particularly deep thrust I felt her vaginal walls clamp around my dick like a vice. When she began to climax her back arched up off the floor and she began to make hissing noises.

I wish the lights had been on so I could have seen her face as she clawed the air. It lasted for a few seconds, then she fell back and her body relaxed under me.

I had been effected by her emotional and physical climax and came in floods myself. I emptied spurt after spurt into her until I thought if I kept doing it much longer she might explode.

After gaining the most pleasure I could from her sweaty body I withdrew my semi-hard dick from her. My white cream spilled from her used cunt as I withdrew from her. (After a couple seconds it stopped.)

"Was it good for you baby?" I asked.

"Fuck yes lover, better than I can remember ever!" She replied as she panted for air. After a brief time of silence she said, "Well I guess I should be going now." She got up.

I just kind of laid there, still out of breath as she pulled her damaged blouse closed and adjusted her skirt to cover her come soaked cunt. And a moment later she was gone.

I never did see her again, and I didn't even know her name, but I've always had a thing for suicide blondes ever since.

Re:*winces*

[GigsVT]

professional VB developer

Is that something like "Subway Sandwich Artist" or "Sanitation Engineer"? :)

Just pullin your chain, no need to get uptight.

Re:*winces*

[__aafkqj3628]

Ya gotta admit though, those sandwiches are beautiful.

Re:*winces*

[CableModemSniper]

I didn't say it was, just that coming to this crowd and saying that and then asking for advice was just asking for trouble :)

good web site

[Anonymous Coward]

dms100 has a good forum for windows to linux programming migration. Check out the archives, there was a big discussion on VB alternatives a couple months back.

just get a patch accepted by linus!

[larry bagina]

A couple years ago, i submitted a few patches for linux bugs, a couple of which were accepted, and my name wnet into the changelogs.

I had to stop counting all the cold-call (or cold email) job offers i got from that to be a linux developer for some company or other. Of course, this was back in the go-go years, when companies spent millions of dollars on sock puppets, but i still get one or two job interview offers a month to be a "linux programmer."

Re:just get a patch accepted by linus!

[Anonymous Coward]

I should have known better than to dare my friend Kara at anything. Least of all, something as totally depraved and raunchy as a snowball.... It was early summer, still early enough to not be intolerable, but hot and sticky enough that both our sundresses were clinging to our well-defined bodies, in a fine sweat. Kara had made pink lemonade, and we were in a picnic spot sipping away. Then, out of the blue, she asks me, "have you ever tried a snowball?" I nearly spit out my drink. Kara has never been one to mince words, but nevertheless I hadn't been expecting that.
"Well? Have you?" Kara was waiting expectantly for my answer.

"Well...I...no! Yeeeeeck! That's disgusting!" But my smile belied my curiosity and excitement.

"Why disgusting?" my friend demanded. "Don't tell me you've never had a guy cum in your mouth before!"

I couldn't tell her that....I'd had hundreds--quite a few of them with Kara present and sucking and fucking whomever she'd brought home for the night.

Instead, I said, "No...I mean....kissing another girl after...."

Kara only smiled evilly. I thought back to the time she'd walked into the bedroom and caught me masturbating on my bed. Nothing too embarrassing about that....except for the matter of exactly what I'd been fantasizing about as I frigged my sopping wet cunt. To this day I couldn't be entirely sure if she'd heard me calling out her name, as my fingers drove me to orgasm after beautiful orgasm....but if she had been anywhere in the apartment during the few minutes leading up to her catching me in the act, I couldn't see how she could have missed hearing it even if a jet plane were flying overhead!

Smiling, Kara asked me, "Does that mean you'd never kiss another woman? Even if she had a mouth full of delicious jism?"

"Never," I lied. "And even if I did....I'd never find someone who would do something that obscene."

"Hmmmm," Kara mused, running her finger along her bottom lip. "I might be prone to try something like that...."

"YOU?" I exclaimed, shocked. "You'd never do something like that."

"Dare me," Kara challenged.

"OK....I dare you!" I giggled, playing along.

Then Kara shocked the hell out of me by standing up and heading straight over to two guys who were playing catch with a football.

"Kara!" I hissed. "Hey...what...GET BACK HERE!" She looked back at me as if to say "you should know not to dare me..."

As she stood there, speaking with the two guys and flirting heavily (even from my vantage point, I could now distinctly see bulges in their shorts), I wished I could melt into the nearby trees. Even more so as she turned and began walking back toward me, holding hands with each of the guys. I felt so embarrassed! My face must have been bright red as Kara brought the two guys over.

She introduced me. "This is my friend, Terri." Maybe it was just my imagination, but I could have sworn she had put an odd emphasis on the word "friend". "Terri, this is.....ummmm...these...." Inspiration struck. "These are hard cocks for us to enjoy!" Not surprisingly, neither of the young guys objected to being classified as a walking sex object.

Kara had the guys sit on the picnic bench, and she quickly got both of them out of their shorts as i watched, a bit shocked at my friend's boldness. She guided me in front of the first guy, who was taller of the two and sandy-haired, gently but firmly pushing me to my knees in front of him.

"Terri, here, is gonna take good care of you. But," she warned, "you have to cum in my mouth. I need both of you to cum in my mouth." Then Kara took her own place in front of the other guy and began giving his hard prick a tongue bath. Then, I felt a hand on the back of my head, as my guy gently pulled me toward him. I opened wide and took him in...

We knelt there in our sundresses, our knees getting dirty as we slurped away at these magnificent hard cocks. Kara popped her man's meat out of her mouth for a moment, to murmur to the sandy-haired guy, "let me show you what my 'friend' likes..." She led me to the top of the picnic table where she arranged me on my back, slipping my sundress down so that it was bunched around my waist, my 36-D braless tits now fully exposed. Then she started playing with them! My nipples immediately got rock hard.

"Doesn't she have nice big firm titties?" Kara cooed. Sandy-haired muttered his agreement. "She just loooooooves having a hard cock between them and having them fucked," she whispered.

Sandy didn't need to be told twice. He quickly straddled my chest and plopped his meat between my boobs, and I pushed them together for him. I stuck my tongue out as far as it would go, licking the tip of his cock every time it poked through my cleavage. As I got titty-fucked, I glanced over at Kara and was surprised to see her getting wildly fucked from behind!

Kara was all talk. "Come on, you hot cocks...I need your cum....I need it in my mouth....give it to me!" She directed me as well. "Terri... push those nice juicy tits together...tighter! Make him cum....!"

Kara's man announced that he was going to cum. He pulled out of her and turned around, taking a sitting position on top of the picnic table as her guy stood on the bench. Grabbing his shaft, she hastily jerked him off. With a gasp, he let go and fired spurt after spurt of his sticky cum into Kara's mouth. This proved to be too much for the fellow balling my breasts, who also announced that he was about to cum.

Kara grabbed his cock and pulled him toward her open mouth, and he situated himself standing on the bench next to his friend. The only problem was that his friend wasn't quite done filling Kara's mouth with his seed, and the first two spurts of sandy's cum went all over her cheek and in her hair. Then as the other man stepped aside, she opened her already cum-drenched mouth to take the rest of it. Finally the well was dry. But Kara's fun was just beginning. She opened her mouth to show me the treasure we'd harvested together; the white sticky jism was literally overflowing over her teeth and lips and dripping down her chin.

Then she drew me in and our lips locked.....

What seemed like a gallon of hot, sticky, creamy sperm gushed into my mouth. I swished the salty cream around my mouth then passed it back to her....then back to me again. this time, her tongue followed, and as our tongues met, I had the first of many orgasms for that afternoon......

Java

[__aafkqj3628]

I would reccomend learning something like Java because of it's cross-platform abilities which would mean that a transition from windows to linux would be much easier.

The other option is to get books, lots and lots of books on Linux C++ programming.

Re:Java

[Anonymous Coward]

C#/.net is also cross-platform, jackass.

Re:Java

[Anonymous Coward]

A man has been jailed for six months after a trainload of commuters saw him having sex with a goat.

Rob Malda, 26, of Holland, MI, pleaded guilty to one charge of buggery with an animal after the assault on the female goat in August last year.

Sentencing Malda, Judge Michael Mettyear described the incident as "bizarre and disgusting". Malda had a previous conviction for indecent assault against a six-year-old boy.

The judge expressed frustration at being unable to order that Malda be banned from working with children in the future, adding: "You have pleaded guilty to buggery with an animal, a goat. It was committed in open air with people about, with people who could see.

"You were acting in an indecent manner, indeed, there was an seven-year-old boy in a position to see, although he was protected by his grandfather," to which Malda expressed displeasure at not having molested the juvenile.

The court was earlier told how Malda had been returning from his sister/girlfriend's home on August 14 when the assault took place at the Sony Theatre.

A seven-year-old boy out walking with his grandfather had witnessed the attack together with a train-load of commuters on board a Holland Municipal bus that had stopped at nearby signals.

Malda was seen holding on to a belt that had been put around the nanny goat's neck with one hand, while masturbating with the other. He was then seen with his trousers around his ankles having "penetrative sexual intercourse" with the animal.

Forensic tests matched semen taken from Malda's clothing to that found at the scene and samples of the goat's hairs were also found in his underwear.

Reading from the pre-sentence report, Mr Mettyear said Malda had shown evidence of being "preoccupied with sex and linux", having "emotional instability" and problems maintaining relationships. It added that he targets "vulnerable" victims - "a child in the first instance and now an animal".

Re:Java

[Anonymous Coward]

Sure... C# crosses platforms, Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP, blah, blah, blah...

Experience

[PFAK]

You answered your question yourself. Get experience with working OSS software, code some stuff. Submit some patches to either the FreeBSD or Linux kernel, and you should be set.

Just make sure that you keep up to date, even if you have to learn C# (.NET), it'll be still good on your resume. Heck, theres C# library's for UNIX now, if you have been reading slashdot.

And, I'd recommend keeping your current job, once you have sufficent knowledge. Then go looking for another one.

Re:Experience

[Anonymous Coward]

I caught an earlier flight Friday and sped home from the airport for some serious sex with Kathleen. I'd been gone a week and my balls were about to explode.
There was a white pickup truck in the drive way as I turned in. Crude lettering on the door proclaimed, "Brad the Handyman" with a phone number I suspected my sweet wife was getting her cunt stretched by the handyman. Then again, she really really might be having a few fix-it items done. Yeah, right!

I parked the car and let myself into the house through the back door. If Kathleen was getting screwed, I wanted to watch with out disturbing them.

Kathleen's voice was the first thing I heard, "Oh! Yes! Fuck my pussy with that big, black cock!"

"You like my cock, baby?"

"Oh fuck yes. All of it, I want all of it in my pussy!"

I walked through the kitchen into the living room. Kathleen's back was to me as she knelt on the sofa, a thick, black cock stuffed up her cunt. It was obvious a goodly amount of cock already was shoved up Kathleen's pussy; but, six inches of thick cock meat still glistened outside her love hole. Her pussy juices dripped down the cock and pooled around the guy's balls.

"Damn, lady, I ain't never had all of my cock in a pussy before. You sure you can take it all?"

Kathleen grunted and raised up on the cock. I swear, another six inches of cock slide out and the head still was no where in sight. Kathleen slammed her pussy back down along the shaft. She managed to get a couple more inches stuffed in her cunt this time. A good four inches still remained. Kathleen paused and looked down at her lover.

"Oh, shit. I want all of your black stud meat. I want your black cum in my pussy. I've never had a cock so deep before. It feels so good. Like I'm going to get split apart. Fuck, that feels so damn good! Push it in slow while I try to wiggle down on it. It is so fucking deep!"

Large black hands reached around and pulled Kathleen's ass downward. Kathleen began to squirm and wiggle on the monster cock. Kathleen managed to absorb another inch. Her body shuddered.

"My pussy feels so damn full. Push, damn it. Push that cock, harder!"

Black muscles rippled, pushing the black monster upwards. The black hands pulled Kathleen's ass downward. The cock seemed to be completely bottomed out with three inches still outside Kathleen's cunt. The black stud was grunting as he strained to pull Kathleen down on his cock. Kathleen was moaning and thrashing about as she tried to get the last three inches up into her love tunnel.

There was a sudden, muffled "pop" as the cock shoved through the obstruction. Kathleen's ass bottomed out against the hairy, black balls. Kathleen's back stiffened and her head snapped back. Kathleen screamed, "Yes, fuck yes!" Her red hair swung wildly from side to side as her whole body twitched and spasmed in orgasm.

Kathleen had an orgasmic mantra going, "So deep. So deep. So deep."

The black stud began to buck back. "Fuck, baby. Your cunt is milking my cock like I've never felt before. You took my whole fucking cock. What a cunt, baby!. Your wanted my black seed, you bitch. Can you feel it, bitch? Can you feel it?"

"Oh fuck yes. I can feel your cum. It so fucking deep, baby. Your cum is so fucking deep. Oh baby, fuck me. Fuck me! I want that black seed deep in my white slut cunt."

Kathleen's orgasm subsided slowly. She began to lift herself off the cock an inch at a time. With about eight inches out, Kathleen stopped. The pussy juice coating the cock had a faint pinkish color. It gave that black monster an ebony-like sheen.

Kathleen slid her cunt back down the shaft, bottoming out with his balls against her ass. Kathleen slid back up the cock a little faster and then down again. The black stud began to fuck her back. Sperm, pussy juice, and a little blood oozed out a little with each pistoning stroke.

"Fuck me, lover. Fuck me deep with your monster cock!"

The black stud was equal to the task and began to fuck Kathleen with fast, deep strokes. I don't think that black pole ever even got soft after he creamed my wife's cunt with his first load of sperm. After about 3 minutes of the most intense fucking I'd ever seen, Kathleen began to orgasm again. Kathleen was grunting and groaning as the electric waves of pleasures pulsed through her body. She jerked and spasmed as the shiny black pole pounded her pussy.

"Fuck, lady. Your cunt is like an oven. It feels like you got fingers in there milkin' my cock. Shit, baby, I'm cumming again. I'm cumming hard in your hot cunt."

His hands pulled Kathleen down on his cock and his balls visibly contracted as he shot his second load of black cum deep into Kathleen.

"Oh, yes! I can feel your cum so fucking deep in my pussy. It feels like you're going to blow the top of my head off. Oh, fuck! OH, FUCK! I'm cumming in your cum, baby. I'm cumming so good."

Kathleen's body twisted and turned on her lover's cock for several minutes as her head thrashed back and forth. She finally finished climaxing and collapsed forward against her lover, mashing her lips against his. His hands moved from her ass to her tits and played with her nipples. They kissed and cuddled as they dropped down from their orgasmic highs. Kathleen cooed, "Oh Brad. That was marvelous. I've feel like I been thoroughly fucked to the deepest depths of my body. I knew I could take all of that monster cock you are so proud of!"

"Fuck, baby. You took it all. I don't fucking believe it."

One last time, Kathleen began to slide slowly off the black cock. The fucking tool still looked hard as it slid out of her love tunnel. I watched, amazed, as eight, ten, twelve inches, slid out without the cock head appearing. Finally, at what looked like fourteen inches, the cock head popped out of Kathleen's stretched cunt. Several large gobs of cum mixed with pussy juice and blood dropped out of the gapping hole that was Kathleen's pussy , down the stud's shaft, and splattered against his balls and thighs. His black hands lifted Kathleen's ass up and off to the side. Kathleen's knees slid off the sofa and her feet touched the floor. She stood up very slowly, on wobbly legs, slightly bow-legged.

Kathleen turned slowly and saw me for the first time. "Hi honey. This is Brad. My new handyman."

"So I saw, baby. So I saw. Hello Brad. How was my wife?"

"Shit, man. She said you were cool about her fucking around. She is the best pussy I've ever had!"

Kathleen walked over, naked except for the black garter belt, nylons, and heels. She wrapped her arms around me and gave me a deep kiss. "Welcome home, baby. Did you see much?"

"I saw enough to realize that your pussy is going to be pretty stretched out for any more love making tonight!"

"Oh, honey. There's still my mouth and ass."

Kathleen groped my balls. "I promise you won't be disappointed."

Brad stood up and stretched. The monster black cock, semi-flaccid, hung down a good ten inches. Kathleen turned and walked back towards Brad. She knelt in front of him and pulled his cock to her lips. She began to lick the pussy juice, cum, and blood off his cock. Her tongue moved down and slurped in the stringy gobs of cum and juices around his balls. Brad groaned and rolled his eyes at me. "Shit, man. Your wife is just fucking unbelievable."

Kathleen finished her clean-up job. Brad's cock had swelled to near full size again. Kathleen looked up at Brad. "This beautiful black man meat is ready for some more loving. Your cum tasted so good. More, please. Give me more."

Brad groaned and collapsed back on the sofa. Kathleen quickly shifted position and began to suck the head of his cock. She lubed the shaft up with her saliva and proceeded to jerk his cock off with sure, rapid, strokes. She kept the cock head firmly clamped in her mouth.

I quickly ripped my pants off and freed my aching cock. I walked over to Kathleen and grabbed her waist. I slowly lifted her off her knees so her puckered little ass hole was right at cock level. I pushed the head of my cock into the crack of her ass. She wiggled back against me, eager for my cock. The whole time she never paused as she continued to suck and stroke Brad's cock.

I pulled back to get some lubrication. Pussy juice and cum coated her thighs and continued to weep from her cunt. I scooped up some stringy gobs and rubbed the goo on the head of my cock and into Kathleen's ass hole. Then I pushed my cock into her ass. Kathleen braced herself and pushed back. Soon I was buried up to my balls. Kathleen continued to noisily suck Brad's tool as she slowly fucked my cock with her ass.

I started to fuck her ass with fast, deep strokes. Brownish shit juice quickly coated my cock and allowed me to fuck her even faster. Kathleen's body began to orgasm. She momentarily broke the suction lock she had on Brad's cock. "Oh, fuck! That feels so good, baby. I really missed your cock this week."

Kathleen looked up at Brad, "But I found a suitable substitute."

Kathleen ran her tongue around his cock head. She continued to stroke it with her hand as she sucked pre-cum out of the pee hole. Kathleen looked up at Brad. She loves to watch a guy's eyes and face as she sucks his cock. "Umm, lover. This tastes so good. I want your cum in mouth, baby. Cum in my mouth!"

The look of lust on Kathleen's face must have triggered Brad's cum shot. He grabbed Kathleen's head and pulled her face down on his cock. I could hear Kathleen gagging as Brad forced his large cock head down the back of her throat. He was sending his seed directly to Kathleen's belly. As he came, he relaxed back against the sofa, releasing Kathleen's head. She quickly bobbed up on his cock so as to catch the last few squirts in her mouth. She truly loves the taste of cum.

Kathleen noisily sucked and slurped the last strings of cum out of Brad's cock. The noisy, lewd display was all I could take and I felt my balls start to spew cum in Kathleen's bowels. Kathleen felt the first spasm of my cock and quickly rearranged herself so as to catch my copious ejaculate in her mouth. She pulled my eight-inch cock all the way in her throat and took my next couple of shots directly down her throat. Then she slid her lips back up my cock, squeegeeing her shit juice into her mouth. Kathleen took my last blasts across her tongue. She looked up at me with her large green eyes and smiled. She opened her mouth and swirled my cum and her brownish shit juice around for me to see before swallowing. She sucked the last few drips of cum from my cock and then stood up.

Kathleen wrapper her arms around me and mashed her tits against my chest. My cock rubbed against her belly and the lace of her garter belt. "Welcome home, honey. I really missed you."

Kathleen shivered and giggled. There was a soft "plop". A large gob of cum had dripped out of Kathleen's cunt and dropped to the carpet.

"Brad, you naughty boy. After the fucking that cock of yours gave me, it'll take a week for all the cum to work it's way out from way up where you put it.

"Baby, I sure don't recollect you complainin' any while I was making the deposits."

Kathleen laughed, "Nope."

Brad stood up. Kathleen hugged him and gazed up into his eyes. Her hand lovingly stroked his massive black manhood, pausing to play with his balls. "You're welcome here anytime, baby. Anytime."

"Baby, you were the best fuck of my entire life. You can bet I'll get back here pretty regular!"

Brad dressed and quickly left with one last hug from Kathleen.

She turned to me, "Well, I'm going to clean up. Where are we going for dinner?"

Same as elsewhere ... network network network...

[metacosm]

Questions:

#1. Do you want to work on OSS systems and with OSS toolkits (writing a web application in PHP running on Redhat 8.0 and Apache 2.0) or do you want to write OSS code (writing a web application licensed under [BSD | GPL]).
If your goal is to write software licensed under an open-source license, you will have a large uphill battle to find work.

#2. Are you sure your newfound passion is worth giving up your job over in this economy? Better to write windows code during the day, so you can afford to write linux code at night.
Slowly ebbing into linux is a good way to go, it will let you built up an understanding and ensure you are set on this decision.

Recommendations:

If you really want to break into the OSS software development market, you need to bear in mind a few things.

#1. It is like any other market, your network of personal relationships you have developed over the past six years will be your basis, where you start looking. As always the buddy-network is the best possible way to find a job you might actually enjoy.

#2. OSS is often as much about community as software, get involved. The best place to probably get involved is your local LUG. At you LUG you have a chance to meet like minded individuals.

#3. Write some code that has your name on it, so that when asked to produce demos/examples of your work you can show them your (GPL | BSD) licensed code. If you write software that happens to help your local LUG you get a bonus point.

#4. Remember that you might be able to create a new job, rather than fill an existing opening. Converting a company to linux, and developing new systems is a large task for even a small (100-200 employees) business. But a rewarding one.

IMHO, there's no competition

[SAN1701]

With Borland Delphi/Kylix, you can

Create any kind of multiplatform (windows/linux) apps.

Use a WAY better RAD tool than VB (I used VB for a while).

Learn and use a full-featured OO language.

As a bonus, you can even generate .NET applications, if you need.

I use it since its first version (well, since Turbo Pascal 3.0, actually), and, altough it's not the tool I use most in daily job (I deal with Macs a lot), it's simply the best RAD tool I've seen. Try a free download. After all, you're the kind of guy they're targeting now.

Re:IMHO, there's no competition

[zulux]

The best thing about Delphi/Kylix is that you can dabble in Linux, and still use it to pay the bills.

Aside, Kylix programs work wonderfully in FreeBSD with FreeBSD's Linux compatibility layer.

Re:IMHO, there's no competition

[SAN1701]

"The best thing about Delphi/Kylix is that you can dabble in Linux, and still use it to pay the bills"

One interesting thing happened to me regarding this. In a small TV, we created a news system. Its clients, inside the company, uses a Windows front-end writen in Delphi; To the web, we simply recompiled the data abstraction layer and created some small formating code and we had a full-featured apache-linux webserver app, with little effort.

If the folks at borland at least port this thing to the MAC... ;-)

Re:IMHO, there's no competition

[zulux]

Its clients, inside the company, uses a Windows front-end writen in Delphi; To the web, we simply recompiled the data abstraction layer and created some small formating code and we had a full-featured apache-linux webserver app, with little effort.

Fun stuff...

The nastiest trick I've done with Deplhi/Kylix is that I was tired of buggy Windows workstations making my app look bad, so I put the front-end of the app on a FreeBSD server and shared the app with VNC. So any computer that has a VNC viewer: Apple, Windows, Be - you name it, can use the app. And if the workstations crashes, the app is waiting them where they left off.

I too would love for native Mac support.

Re:IMHO, there's no competition

[Trane Francks]

I agree that Delphi and Kylix are the way to go. Also, what hasn't been mentioned yet is that the language itself is relatively painless to learn for VB programmers. This should make it possible for our intrepid VB programmer to pick up the basics and move on before the .Net move at his current company becomes a serious problem.

Any VB programmer who worked with version 4 will crack open Delphi and Kylix and think, "Wow, I've seen this before!" It's a very comfortable transition.

I use all three.

trane

my suggestion

[Anonymous Coward]

Ok, first off, immediately stop bathing or showering. If you have a girlfriend, get rid of her (or, even better, convince her to change her name to "Natalie Portman"!). Move back in with your parents. They do have a basement, right?

Once you've learned to live by those rules, the suits will think you've been a gnu/linux user for years!

Parent is a Troll, don't follow that link

[Anonymous Coward]

(n/t)

Re:Parent is a Troll, don't follow that link

[Anonymous Coward]

I should have known better than to dare my friend Kara at anything. Least of all, something as totally depraved and raunchy as a snowball.... It was early summer, still early enough to not be intolerable, but hot and sticky enough that both our sundresses were clinging to our well-defined bodies, in a fine sweat. Kara had made pink lemonade, and we were in a picnic spot sipping away. Then, out of the blue, she asks me, "have you ever tried a snowball?" I nearly spit out my drink. Kara has never been one to mince words, but nevertheless I hadn't been expecting that. "Well? Have you?" Kara was waiting expectantly for my answer. "Well...I...no! Yeeeeeck! That's disgusting!" But my smile belied my curiosity and excitement. "Why disgusting?" my friend demanded. "Don't tell me you've never had a guy cum in your mouth before!" I couldn't tell her that....I'd had hundreds--quite a few of them with Kara present and sucking and fucking whomever she'd brought home for the night. Instead, I said, "No...I mean....kissing another girl after...." Kara only smiled evilly. I thought back to the time she'd walked into the bedroom and caught me masturbating on my bed. Nothing too embarrassing about that....except for the matter of exactly what I'd been fantasizing about as I frigged my sopping wet cunt. To this day I couldn't be entirely sure if she'd heard me calling out her name, as my fingers drove me to orgasm after beautiful orgasm....but if she had been anywhere in the apartment during the few minutes leading up to her catching me in the act, I couldn't see how she could have missed hearing it even if a jet plane were flying overhead! Smiling, Kara asked me, "Does that mean you'd never kiss another woman? Even if she had a mouth full of delicious jism?" "Never," I lied. "And even if I did....I'd never find someone who would do something that obscene." "Hmmmm," Kara mused, running her finger along her bottom lip. "I might be prone to try something like that...." "YOU?" I exclaimed, shocked. "You'd never do something like that." "Dare me," Kara challenged. "OK....I dare you!" I giggled, playing along. Then Kara shocked the hell out of me by standing up and heading straight over to two guys who were playing catch with a football. "Kara!" I hissed. "Hey...what...GET BACK HERE!" She looked back at me as if to say "you should know not to dare me..." As she stood there, speaking with the two guys and flirting heavily (even from my vantage point, I could now distinctly see bulges in their shorts), I wished I could melt into the nearby trees. Even more so as she turned and began walking back toward me, holding hands with each of the guys. I felt so embarrassed! My face must have been bright red as Kara brought the two guys over. She introduced me. "This is my friend, Terri." Maybe it was just my imagination, but I could have sworn she had put an odd emphasis on the word "friend". "Terri, this is.....ummmm...these...." Inspiration struck. "These are hard cocks for us to enjoy!" Not surprisingly, neither of the young guys objected to being classified as a walking sex object. Kara had the guys sit on the picnic bench, and she quickly got both of them out of their shorts as i watched, a bit shocked at my friend's boldness. She guided me in front of the first guy, who was taller of the two and sandy-haired, gently but firmly pushing me to my knees in front of him. "Terri, here, is gonna take good care of you. But," she warned, "you have to cum in my mouth. I need both of you to cum in my mouth." Then Kara took her own place in front of the other guy and began giving his hard prick a tongue bath. Then, I felt a hand on the back of my head, as my guy gently pulled me toward him. I opened wide and took him in... We knelt there in our sundresses, our knees getting dirty as we slurped away at these magnificent hard cocks. Kara popped her man's meat out of her mouth for a moment, to murmur to the sandy-haired guy, "let me show you what my 'friend' likes..." She led me to the top of the picnic table where she arranged me on my back, slipping my sundress down so that it was bunched around my waist, my 36-D braless tits now fully exposed. Then she started playing with them! My nipples immediately got rock hard. "Doesn't she have nice big firm titties?" Kara cooed. Sandy-haired muttered his agreement. "She just loooooooves having a hard cock between them and having them fucked," she whispered. Sandy didn't need to be told twice. He quickly straddled my chest and plopped his meat between my boobs, and I pushed them together for him. I stuck my tongue out as far as it would go, licking the tip of his cock every time it poked through my cleavage. As I got titty-fucked, I glanced over at Kara and was surprised to see her getting wildly fucked from behind! Kara was all talk. "Come on, you hot cocks...I need your cum....I need it in my mouth....give it to me!" She directed me as well. "Terri... push those nice juicy tits together...tighter! Make him cum....!" Kara's man announced that he was going to cum. He pulled out of her and turned around, taking a sitting position on top of the picnic table as her guy stood on the bench. Grabbing his shaft, she hastily jerked him off. With a gasp, he let go and fired spurt after spurt of his sticky cum into Kara's mouth. This proved to be too much for the fellow balling my breasts, who also announced that he was about to cum. Kara grabbed his cock and pulled him toward her open mouth, and he situated himself standing on the bench next to his friend. The only problem was that his friend wasn't quite done filling Kara's mouth with his seed, and the first two spurts of sandy's cum went all over her cheek and in her hair. Then as the other man stepped aside, she opened her already cum-drenched mouth to take the rest of it. Finally the well was dry. But Kara's fun was just beginning. She opened her mouth to show me the treasure we'd harvested together; the white sticky jism was literally overflowing over her teeth and lips and dripping down her chin. Then she drew me in and our lips locked..... What seemed like a gallon of hot, sticky, creamy sperm gushed into my mouth. I swished the salty cream around my mouth then passed it back to her....then back to me again. this time, her tongue followed, and as our tongues met, I had the first of many orgasms for that afternoon.....

Re:Parent is a Troll, don't follow that link

[Anonymous Coward]

Really, you write wonderfully, but you should write more, instead of just reposting the same story several times!

--os

NOW you're leaving?

[uradu]

> moving everyone to .NET and so I want to leave ASAP

So you stuck it out with crappy VB6 all these years for the sheer enjoyment of it, and now that they're finally moving to a half-way decent platform, you're bailing?

Re:NOW you're leaving?

[Anonymous Coward]

I should have known better than to dare my friend Kara at anything. Least of all, something as totally depraved and raunchy as a snowball.... It was early summer, still early enough to not be intolerable, but hot and sticky enough that both our sundresses were clinging to our well-defined bodies, in a fine sweat. Kara had made pink lemonade, and we were in a picnic spot sipping away. Then, out of the blue, she asks me, "have you ever tried a snowball?" I nearly spit out my drink. Kara has never been one to mince words, but nevertheless I hadn't been expecting that.
"Well? Have you?" Kara was waiting expectantly for my answer.

"Well...I...no! Yeeeeeck! That's disgusting!" But my smile belied my curiosity and excitement.

"Why disgusting?" my friend demanded. "Don't tell me you've never had a guy cum in your mouth before!"

I couldn't tell her that....I'd had hundreds--quite a few of them with Kara present and sucking and fucking whomever she'd brought home for the night.

Instead, I said, "No...I mean....kissing another girl after...."

Kara only smiled evilly. I thought back to the time she'd walked into the bedroom and caught me masturbating on my bed. Nothing too embarrassing about that....except for the matter of exactly what I'd been fantasizing about as I frigged my sopping wet cunt. To this day I couldn't be entirely sure if she'd heard me calling out her name, as my fingers drove me to orgasm after beautiful orgasm....but if she had been anywhere in the apartment during the few minutes leading up to her catching me in the act, I couldn't see how she could have missed hearing it even if a jet plane were flying overhead!

Smiling, Kara asked me, "Does that mean you'd never kiss another woman? Even if she had a mouth full of delicious jism?"

"Never," I lied. "And even if I did....I'd never find someone who would do something that obscene."

"Hmmmm," Kara mused, running her finger along her bottom lip. "I might be prone to try something like that...."

"YOU?" I exclaimed, shocked. "You'd never do something like that."

"Dare me," Kara challenged.

"OK....I dare you!" I giggled, playing along.

Then Kara shocked the hell out of me by standing up and heading straight over to two guys who were playing catch with a football.

"Kara!" I hissed. "Hey...what...GET BACK HERE!" She looked back at me as if to say "you should know not to dare me..."

As she stood there, speaking with the two guys and flirting heavily (even from my vantage point, I could now distinctly see bulges in their shorts), I wished I could melt into the nearby trees. Even more so as she turned and began walking back toward me, holding hands with each of the guys. I felt so embarrassed! My face must have been bright red as Kara brought the two guys over.

She introduced me. "This is my friend, Terri." Maybe it was just my imagination, but I could have sworn she had put an odd emphasis on the word "friend". "Terri, this is.....ummmm...these...." Inspiration struck. "These are hard cocks for us to enjoy!" Not surprisingly, neither of the young guys objected to being classified as a walking sex object.

Kara had the guys sit on the picnic bench, and she quickly got both of them out of their shorts as i watched, a bit shocked at my friend's boldness. She guided me in front of the first guy, who was taller of the two and sandy-haired, gently but firmly pushing me to my knees in front of him.

"Terri, here, is gonna take good care of you. But," she warned, "you have to cum in my mouth. I need both of you to cum in my mouth." Then Kara took her own place in front of the other guy and began giving his hard prick a tongue bath. Then, I felt a hand on the back of my head, as my guy gently pulled me toward him. I opened wide and took him in...

We knelt there in our sundresses, our knees getting dirty as we slurped away at these magnificent hard cocks. Kara popped her man's meat out of her mouth for a moment, to murmur to the sandy-haired guy, "let me show you what my 'friend' likes..." She led me to the top of the picnic table where she arranged me on my back, slipping my sundress down so that it was bunched around my waist, my 36-D braless tits now fully exposed. Then she started playing with them! My nipples immediately got rock hard.

"Doesn't she have nice big firm titties?" Kara cooed. Sandy-haired muttered his agreement. "She just loooooooves having a hard cock between them and having them fucked," she whispered.

Sandy didn't need to be told twice. He quickly straddled my chest and plopped his meat between my boobs, and I pushed them together for him. I stuck my tongue out as far as it would go, licking the tip of his cock every time it poked through my cleavage. As I got titty-fucked, I glanced over at Kara and was surprised to see her getting wildly fucked from behind!

Kara was all talk. "Come on, you hot cocks...I need your cum....I need it in my mouth....give it to me!" She directed me as well. "Terri... push those nice juicy tits together...tighter! Make him cum....!"

Kara's man announced that he was going to cum. He pulled out of her and turned around, taking a sitting position on top of the picnic table as her guy stood on the bench. Grabbing his shaft, she hastily jerked him off. With a gasp, he let go and fired spurt after spurt of his sticky cum into Kara's mouth. This proved to be too much for the fellow balling my breasts, who also announced that he was about to cum.

Kara grabbed his cock and pulled him toward her open mouth, and he situated himself standing on the bench next to his friend. The only problem was that his friend wasn't quite done filling Kara's mouth with his seed, and the first two spurts of sandy's cum went all over her cheek and in her hair. Then as the other man stepped aside, she opened her already cum-drenched mouth to take the rest of it. Finally the well was dry. But Kara's fun was just beginning. She opened her mouth to show me the treasure we'd harvested together; the white sticky jism was literally overflowing over her teeth and lips and dripping down her chin.

Then she drew me in and our lips locked.....

What seemed like a gallon of hot, sticky, creamy sperm gushed into my mouth. I swished the salty cream around my mouth then passed it back to her....then back to me again. this time, her tongue followed, and as our tongues met, I had the first of many orgasms for that afternoon.....

Re:Same as elsewhere ... network network network..

[Anonymous Coward]

Christ, I love Greek! Women just don't seem to understand that a
man can find just as much pleasure in the warm confines of a well-
muscled ass as they can in the satin embrace of a well-wetted
cunt. Maybe we men have conditioned them too well to ignoring one
hole for the other: nonetheless, every man I've talked to about it
loves Greek and every woman who I've talked to about it has been
less than enthusiastic. So imagine my surprise last weekend when
Ophelia treated me to the joys of anal sex in what must be the
first time in five or six years.

The night started our strangely. Ophelia had just finished re-
arranging her large library and was exhausted. As suits my
biological clock, I was just coming awake at 10 PM when she was
turning in. She invited me to bed and I politely declined: I was
horny as usual and told her I'd keep her awake. After a couple of
more requests from her, I stripped and crawled in beside her.
Ophelia loves to snuggle and wasted no time in curling her small
body up next to mine. I turned and kissed her. She was oddly
responsive for her tired state, and teased me with a hint of
tongue in her kisses. I reached down to feel her muff and found
it just beginning to rev as her right hand slipped down her belly
to her clit.

I took up what has become my customary position between her legs -
kneeling and using my cock as a sex toy to tickle her lower labia
and the entrance to her cunt. But this time I let my aim wander
lower to the wonderful curve where ass, crotch, and leg meet. I
rubbed my cock against this soft crescent and expanded the stroke
to brush against the entrance to her ass. I noticed that every
time that my prick touched her rosebud, her strokes on her clit
quickened. It wasn't long before I was pressing the tip of my
cock against her asshole.

Surprise! My cock slipped easily into her ass until the entire
head was buried inside, and just as I was about to pull out and
apoligize, she handed me a bottle of sex lubricant and said "What
the fuck? Why not?". I pulled back and poured the lubricant on
my hard cock and noticed her pussy was swollen and very wet. I
worked my cock back into its previous nest. It was so easy. I
could feel her ass muscles relaxing and opening for me. I eased
ever so slowly deeper. Such heaven! Like a warm, wet hand
gripping all around my prick - so much tighter than pussy, and
delightful in an entirely different way. I could feel her hips
grind against me as I worked the last of my seven-plus inches into
her back door. Realizing where I was and how long it had been
since I'd known this pleasure, I had to fight to pull the reigns
in on my orgasm.

It seemed like forever - my slow rocking pulling my cock almost
full-length out of her ass before easing it back in until my balls
rested against her firm buns. Her right hand furiously massaged
her clit and her left hand played at the entrance of her cunt,
pressing on the full length of her labia. And all the while my
cock was enveloped in a firm net of gripping muscles that wrestled
to bring the cum from me. "It's so weird," she said as she
searched for the grip on her own orgasm. Suddenly, it was upon
her. I felt her ass open up like a mouth that was just to blow up
a ballon. "Are you close?" she hissed. "No," I grunted.
She was close, tho'. Too close to stop. I felt her stiffen and
lurch under me. "Uuhhhh! Come on you bastard! Fill my ass!" she
yelled as she dug her nails into my back. Amazing what a little
dirty talk will do - from that special nowhere where good men
hide their orgasms until their lovers are ready, my load bolted
from my crotch to my brain and back to my flushed balls. I
gripped the pillow with my teeth and jerked my neck back and forth
and tried not to deafen Ophelia when my cum blasted out of my cock
like water from a firehose. The rush of jism racing up my tube
seemed to last for stroke after stroke until sweaty Ophelia
gasped, grunted, and pushed me from on top of her. Since I have
a little anal experience myself, I knew the sudden discomfort of
having something in your ass after you've orgasmed. I
considerately slipped out of her despite not having finsihed my
own orgasm to my complete satisfaction.

I kissed her and thanked her for her special gift, but she pushed
me away. "Go wash off and fuck my pussy," she said " I feel like
something's undone." So after a quick and thourough shower, I
returned to the futon where her dripping, swollen twat waited for
my not-quite-recovered cock.

And that's another story...

The answer is ...

[LordNimon]

Are many companies hiring Microsoft developers with little Linux experience to assist in corporate migration?

In a word, no. Especially in this economy. I suggest you do Linux development on the side, and then claim on your resume that you did it for work. In a year or two, someone may hire you.

Game the system

[Anonymous Coward]

Learn to scam the headhunter system and it don't matter if all you know is GW BASIC.

MONO

[MrBlack]

Just because your employer is moving to .NET doesn't mean you can't do some development on Linux using MONO. It seems ironic to me that in may ways .NET un-shackles windows developers from the windows platform more than previous Microsoft development technologies did.

Also, why not try and affect change from within your own company, rather than going somewhere else? If there is an existing open equivalent to something you're thinking of using then make the case for that. Also investigate languages like Java, Python and Perl which can run on multiple platforms. They all have large developer communities and mature libraries for doing lots of different things.

Re:MONO

[alyandon]

.NET unshackles developers from MS Windows as long as they stick to the features that can be implemented on other platforms.

One thing you are probably never going to see with Mono, DotGnu(sp?), et al. is a compatible implementation of COM+ which MS has thrown into .NET for talking to legacy win32 components/libraries/applications. If you need to use such features with .NET -- you are going to be developing and deploying on Windows (at least the service part will need to be).

Re:MONO

[MrBlack]

AFAIK COM+ AKA enterprise services aren't so much about interop with COM, but more about providing "enterprise services" like queing, transactional objects etc (more analogous to certain parts of J2EE). .NET interoperates with COM by way of a COM callable wrapper. In order for a .NET assembly to interoperate with a COM component (under normal circumstances, forgetting about remoting and DCOM for the minute) the COM component would have to be installed and run on the host OS. So I guess you could say we would probably see .NET/COM interop in MONO when we see COM for Linux (hey, isn't that what BONOBO is...).

Side note: I heard the marketroids at M$ were thinking about calling .NET COM+ 2, now wouldn't _THAT_ have been a good name.

.Net

[the eric conspiracy]

It would seem to me that sticking out the transition to .Net and working on Linux on the side would be the best way to make the transition.

With .Net, your VB skills are soon going to be hard to market, and you don't have any real Linux skills just yet.

If you stick it out, you will have a much better skillset to show the market.

Re:.Net

[metalpet]

I second that..

One possible future for linux happens to be one where .NET plays a significant role. Even if it doesn't, a lot of what you learn about .NET is relevant to java developement as well.

Just try to move to C# instead of VB.NET if you can.. The learning curve is quite similar. Despite both languages being roughly equivalent, I suspect prospective employers will be more impressed by the former for historical reasons.

That and C# is likely going to be the first and best supported .NET language on linux. There are several C# compiler in the work for linux but I haven't heard of anybody working on a vb.net one just yet.

Re:.Net

[OneOfThree]

If you stick with your current job, take the opportunity to really learn OO programming. VB6 was never really OO. .NET is very OO. A good base in OOD, OOP and, say, C# would be a good platform to use to build skills in Java, and then you're on your way.

Re:.Net

[Anonymous Coward]

If you stick with your current job, take the opportunity to really learn OO programming.

There is no real evidence OO is better. It's bubble will soon pop and people will toss it like they did mainframes in the early 90's out of embarassment. Java and its clone.NET will die a slow, painful death.

Re:.Net

[Anonymous Coward]

OO is wider than Java and .NET. It's a mindset. Arguably, Java and .NET style OO will go away, as more people realise the benefits of multiple-distpatch OO as in Common Lisp CLOS.

.NET

[droyad]

Why run from .NET? Pretty soon* you can develop in .NET for the linux plaform

*I am aware that it is already working, but it's not quite there yet

Find a place that does Unix Development

[PaddyM]

I'm not sure how you'd do that other than ask. I work for Lockheed Martin Air Traffic Management. We do unix development, and in fact as part of a leadership development program, I'm currently working on porting a Windows-based testing app to cross-platform (read: Java GUI and ANSI C backends on Linux). I'm not sure how much we're hiring, but it certainly isn't obvious from the job description (Software Engineering) that you could end up doing development in linux.

there is competition

[e8johan]

Qt from trolltech (www.trolltech.com) is a better solution (IMHO).

• Qt uses C++ (but is available for other languages). C++ is far more common than Borland's Pascal derivate that Delphi/Kylix uses.
• QtDesigned is a great RAD tool, but it does not force you to use it. You can write (or insert) lots of code from the outside without any problems.
• For cross platform apps, simply buy the full version and you can do Unix/X11, Win32 and MaxOS X with one source.
• Qt is not only a GUI tool, but a collection of cross platform classes for: sockets, filesystem interaction, database access and much more.

If you feel like trying it, just go to trolltech and download the free edition.

Re:there is competition

[jetsfandb]

You might want to check out Borland's site first for info on Kylix. Mainly because:

Kylix uses QT for it's widgets.

The current version of Kylix supports both Delphi and C++ development.

There is a free 'Open' version that has a limited number of components but allows you get a good feel for the product without cost. (Anything generated with the Open version falls under GPL, though).

Re:there is competition

[oliverthered]

Hmm.. I don't think you've tried Borland tools for quite some time.

Kylix gives you:
Just-in-time compiling so you can modify your code whilst debugging.

A far better syntax for even-handeling.

A seriously good RAD UI. you havn't seen rad till you've used Kylix/CBuilder &co.

Type sensitive code compleation.

Good ANSI compliance.

Cross platform development (including mobile devices)

the list goes on.....

I do like QT and I use it a lot but Borlands tools are the best.

Odd time to move

[IceFreak2000]

As a previous poster said, albeit sarcastically, it seems odd that you've put up with Visual Basic with its numerous flaws and 'lock in' attitude for so many years you're now looking to bail out when the development platform your company has chosen has improved dramatically.

My personal opinion is that .NET is a great development environment. As a long standing C/C++/Java developer (I hate to admit to VB in public), it's taken me a very short time to get to grips with the Framework - the language you use is largely irrelevent, but I have to admit I went for C# - which is the major bulk of any learning effort required in getting up to speed with .NET

Other posters have also pointed out that there are Open Source efforts underway to port .NET to Linux (Mono and DotGNU

) as well as the much publicised Rotor implementations for FreeBSD and Mac OSX.

Make no mistake; the Redmond behemoth is not going to let .NET just curl up and die. If I were you, I'd use it as a stepping stone to your Open Source ideals. Ahh, how delicious is *that* irony?

Re:Odd time to move

[Anonymous Coward]

I find .net to be pretty crappy. You're right that the language you use is largely irrelevant, but I find that that's because they're all the same language with a thin veneer of different syntax - they're all the same garbage-collected, single-inheritance OO. Boring. Give me lisp any day.

Professional Programmer

[JohnFluxx]

A serious question: How can someone really consider themselves a professional programmer - particular one that's been coding for 6 years - but has stuck to one language and one OS.

I'm not trolling, just thinking from an employers point of view. Wouldn't you be suspicious of someone who doesn't branch out a little more? I personally would wonder where there motivation and proffesional curiosity is.. Or do employers like that sort of thing?

Re:Professional Programmer

[Anonymous Brave Guy]

A serious question: How can someone really consider themselves a professional programmer - particular one that's been coding for 6 years - but has stuck to one language and one OS.

That depends on your point of view, I guess.

I've been a full-time professional developer for around four years, and I've used predominantly C++ on MS Windows in that time. Sure, I've also used C and assembler skills in significant amounts along the way, I've picked up enough of things like Java and Perl to be useful, and I have a side interest in several other tools and languages as well. The current project I'm working on runs on about 15 different platforms, too.

I'd still probably describe myself as a C++ programmer who works with Windows as a one-line summary, though.

Re:Professional Programmer

[Anonymous Coward]

Maybe after 6 years he knows what he's talking about. Expertise is worth money. Personally, I strive for it. I worked with a man who worked with the same system all his working life. He built the OS and designed the programming language used to control it. If you made a mobile phone call during the 1990s there was a 50% chance you used that system. I am happy to refer to him as a professional programmer.

Two/Three tier systems?

[Anonymous Coward]

What is a two or three tier system?

Can anyone help me out here?

Re:Two/Three tier systems?

[Anonymous Coward]

Two tier: Client/server.
Three tier: Typically Db-server, webserver, client.

Re:Two/Three tier systems?

[Wavicle]

The number of "tiers" refers to the number of players (apps) between a client application and the data or service it wants. A two tier system is almost always called "client-server", because those are the only two players involved. In the trade if the client is a custom app and the server is a database, this arrangement is usually referred to as "thick client".

A site like slashdot is probably 3 tier because data travels client-server-db. The obvious reason to do 3 tier is the web. Web browsers shouldn't have to support running code to do complex SQL queries to some database. However there are a host of other reasons to separate database access from the client like security or connection pooling. You don't really want your db to suffer 100,000 simultaneous accesses, much better to put in a middle tier that maintains a queue of those wanting access and a pool of open connections to execute the queries. This set up where the middle tier does the db access on the client's behalf is usually called "thin client".

Besides the whole web browser model, other 3-tier (or n-tier as we like to call them, although n is rarely greater than 4) technologies in common use (or at least that I've used) are CORBA (cross platform and language standard) and EJB (Java standard).

Use .NET as a stepping stone

[gr84b8]

A lot of development these days does not require very much OS specific development. C# is actually an elegant language from what I've seen, and has a lot of similarites (and even improvements IMO) to java. The .net framework also seems to mirror many of the java frameworks. Perhaps your best bet is to take the opportunity your company is giving you to learn C# and .NET - and use that as your transition. Being a c++ unix developer, it seems to me that there are a lot more Java/J2EE or C#/.net jobs out there than platform specific c++ positions (much to my dismay :). Take on linux as a pet project, it doesn't need to be your career.

Cross Platform

[gbr]

There are a ton of cross-platform tools that will let you develop for Windows and Linux platforms. Personally, I use wxWindows, but you should also look at Kylix, QT, MONO, etc.

hey I have a favor . . .

[/dev/trash]

Can I have the job your leaving? I'll take a pay cut, but not because I love MS, but because I like to eat and stay in warm places.

Heresy

[valisk]

Read aloud the passages here here and don't be despondant my son. Saint Ignucius hath provided fo thou.

C#

[Bri3D]

Keep ypur job, learn C#.net, then quit and transition to Linux, which has C# libs, etc.

Stay where you are

[Anonymous Coward]

Like everyone else has said, stay where you are and learn some marketable skills before you move (sorry but VB6 is the past not the future) .Net might not be the ideal job for you but you certainly can learn alot from it. Learn OO principles doing C# which you can then aply to Java or C++, when it comes right down to it, it doesn't really matter what platform you develop on to get these basic skills.

Once you have the skills then you can be more choosy about your job, afterall I would assume your number one goal is to make a living.

Keep your day job

[DrCode]

I've been professionally writing Unix/Linux code for over 10 years, and also have written a lot of OSS. And I've been unemployed for nearly 4 months. That experience doesn't seem to be doing me much good at the moment.

It seems like the main jobs I see now are either for Window programmers (esp. .NET), or for Java with database experience. So stay where you are so you can get the .NET experience, and join an open-source project for fun. You'll have the best of both worlds (and believe me, ANY tech. job is better than no job).

Advices given here are absolutely horrible

[Alex Belits]

You can't learn new system, especially a superior one, by using tools that are from your old system -- even if they are developed recently. To learn Unix you need to study its design, tools and techniques, not use some monstrosity made to support applications made for Windows under Unix. So forget about Mono, Winelib and Java, learn C (plain C, by K&R book), networking (by UNP book), write something, participate in the development of something that you need, and then you will be able to choose what to do next.