My take on .Net
I have been a Delphi developer almost since day one. I started because Delphi was OO, made real EXE files and had no runtime.
I kept using Delphi because the VCL was so powerful and flexible. I remember when Microsoft announced ISAPI. They said VB support was 'coming soon' yet the same day I could make ISAPI DLLs in Delphi with the help of some translated header files I downloaded.
You never really needed to buy a new version of Delphi, the earlier versions were so good you can still use them to make applications that look the same as applications written in the latest versions. Sure it is easier in the newer versions but possible in the older versions. I'm mainly using Delphi 6 & 7 but I know a lot of people still on 3 or 5 with no plans to upgrade.
Other development tools came along, such as Power Builder and Java. None made Windows applications as good as Delphi.
So what has all this got to do with .Net? .Net is the future, purely because Microsoft wants it to be. Regardless if it is good or bad, it will become the only way to develop new Windows appilcations.
The question is 'What Should Delphi Developers Do?'
Now is not the time for Delphi developers to ignore .Net, lest they become dinosaurs. It is not the time for Delphi developers to jump into .Net either.
Learning the .Net framework will take a big hit on productivity, the ROI will take a long time to pay back. I'll wait until .Net 2.0 comes out and learn that.
Any productivity gains I will get from moving to .Net wont be made up in time for .Net 2.0 when the learning curve wont start again but it will be a bump.
By waiting for .Net 2.0 I am able to add features faster than my competition who are using .Net 1.0. I am also able to deliver a better product that is easier to install. When .Net 2.0 comes out those that jumped on 1.0 will need to rewrite some of their stuff again.
The code I write today I plan to run on .NET 2.0. In the next 12-24 months it will be time to move to .Net but not sooner.