Your example is my first intro to C#. I probably won't live long enough to ever have to program in C# since I get to pick the languages that I use, but I can see a serious effort by MS to make something useful. To the 'C++' programmers, it is a natural extension to what they already know. But, I've never really trusted MS for their marketing and development plan. I hold some serious grudges with them for having intentionally gone after the destruction of non-proprietary (read "open") standards. They were doing this back when they first introduced their C-language compiler and libraries. They weren't alone in doing that. I criticized Borland for the same sin.