X-no-Archive:yes
And you would be absolutely right, save for a single fact.

I have learned about Apache. Next on my short list is Java. I know ODBC, SQL
and some RDBMS theory (I defer to the RDBMS gurus, one of which I am not). I
know portable, ANSI-standard coding, and how to isolate the inevitable
platform specific issues that you can never quite get away from (like what a
file is named, or how to set or get return codes and environment variables).
I write my system documentation as web pages. I would love to get to JDBC,
and XML.

All of this I have done on MPE, progressing rather than just spending
another year doing what I did last year with a COLA instead of a pay raise.
I can take that skill, and code and script and DBA on NT / W2K. I'm thinking
of putting together a Linux box at home so I can get stupid with Apache and
SAMBA (and integrate with W2K Active Directory, etc.). Of course, my own
goal in any of this is to become a better, smarter MPEer. Because I really
don't handle pre-dawn phone calls at n AM so very well, and don't see why I
should have to.

There are still problems of perception, here, but it's not fantasy vs.
reality. But when I go to make my own reality, I want to use theory (as in
RDBMS theory) and not marketing hype as my raw material. In theory, all
these things are available on the e3000, and someone else has probably made
them happen first. So when someone tells me that I can advance my career by
learning a new technology, I list some new technologies and ask their
recommendation. I then tell them that I want to learn these things, and can,
while staying on an already familiar platform.

Greg Stigers
http://www.cgiusa.com