[CyberCowboy777]

There are billions invested in VB apps that will not be easy converted to Java, MS Domain controllers are known and reworks are expensive and MS (SQL, VB & .net) stalwarts still exist in IS groups everywhere.

Moves from MS to open source are relatively easy for Banks, Credit Unions, other financial institutions and governments - they ARE NOT entrenched in MS - many never ran core apps or systems on pure MS systems. Many corporations are still running Novell and/or AS/400 systems.

I work for these folks, Banks to Fortune 500 corporations. I have seen more than one city and county system.

The moves are good for all of us, but do not expect the Red Sea to part and the corporate world to follow Penguin Moses to the promised land.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

There are billions invested in VB apps that will not be easy converted...

Yes, but VB is based on a pre-Internet programming model that cannot be extended (that's why VB6 has been around so long), and its power and uses are extremely limited. A lot of those apps ARE going to have to be replaced simply because they are proving inadquate.

.NET is fine, but anything you write in it requires annual per-seat licensing fees to Microsoft.

That's a good deal for Microsoft, but I am not sure that all businesses measure their success in terms of how much of their profits are channelled to Bill Gates.