Why does this forum not exist? (Sigh)
Okay, so I feel like I have to let loose here, to tell it like it is. This project has been going on for years, and for years it has had the status of "almost awesome". Its one I've come back to, intrigued by new features...but as soon as I dig in, as soon as I start a project, I find some messed up thing, something not as its supposed to be. And tonight, after that finding the latest messed up thing, I come here for support and the damn forum does not exist.
WITH ALL DUE RESPECT, here's what I feel. Here's what I intuit:
This project reminds me of certain web projects I undertook years ago before I learned to tell management and clients "NO" as necessary, to improve the overall quality of projects. It took me awhile, but I learned that by limiting features and providing rock solid stability and reliability to the features I did provide, I provided a product 1000 better than I did by allowing scope creep to sabotage even the basics, and in the end clients and management would love me for it.
And that's what I see missing with this project: People running around playing the part of Sisyphus trying to implement ALL MS features when the basics aren't completely solid. I ran into problems with ADO, and the team is working on Moonlight? Who cares about Moonlight? Its dysfunctional. Of course its dysfunctional, nothing to do with you: every web technology Microsoft has created has pushed people toward MS clients/browsers, and this many years in web devs avoid it like the plague, its Intranet stuff. My question is, why don't the basics work? Why isn't my DataSet behaving properly?
Open source projects function because individuals become *dependent on the core technology*, and then add extensions according to their needs. So the most important thing is a really solid, dependable core. I feel like that's lacking, as manifest in my DataSet not working, as manifest in the forum not being here.
LIMIT YOUR SCOPE
(rant over)
