William (Bill) Vaughn's Musings: Is Change Inevitable or Just What We're Used To?

We were conversing this morning about change in developer tools since the demise of VB6 Someone made the point that it's not the intelligence or experience of a developer that makes them sucessful, it's how long can they go before giving up in frustration...

My response was...
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I expect that I’m as frustrated as anyone—perhaps more so. I agree with the assessment, but as I see it, experience can also be a hindrance and further contribute to my frustration. When an experienced developer attacks a problem with a new tool they first try the techniques learned when using the old tool. The problem is, the new tool (while it might have the same name as the old tool—or close—might not work in the “old” ways. After all, it’s “new and improved”—at least in someone’s estimation. People who have never seen the old version can be at an advantage. They don’t carry along the baggage of knowing how stuff used to work.

This problem won’t get any better until Microsoft stops churning just for the sake of churn—and they’re promising to do it even more often. Are a thousand little changes better than one humongous change less often? I’ll leave that up to you to debate. IMHO the answer is no, none of the above--especially when there are still outstanding issues with the last set of changes.

When someone blindfolds me and says they’re handing me a “coffee cup”, I expect to be able to reach out and be handed a vessel with specific properties. As of late, when it’s Microsoft handing me the cup, all too often I get burned and spill hot stuff on my lap.

As far as the books, instructions and training (and Microsoft documentation), these take time to create. My new book (in edit) talks about reporting and Windows forms, and data and SQL Server and how they connect and interact but it’s taken almost two years to write—only for it to be (at least in part) made obsolete by the next “new and improved” version.
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Another comment echoed this: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,19509645-36375,00.html