Vendors that support Microsoft's operating systems and infrastructure may be justified in being wary of the big software vendor's mandate that they start developing new supporting applications. For one, Microsoft is taking on too much and unveiling their products and platforms too quickly. When Microsoft released its Microsoft Foundation Classes (MFC) and Visual Basic 6, they became the Windows standards for building graphical user interfaces. As soon as the .NET Framework was unveiled in early 2002, Microsoft told vendors to start building new application GUIs with Windows Forms, its improvement on its earlier technologies and a standard approach for .NET Framework-based language. The problem with Windows Forms is that developers have to learn new skills. However, in the midst of all this, Microsoft has announced its Longhorn release of Windows for 2006, the next version of the Windows client. Longhorn will be replacing Windows Forms. Longhorn will include a technology called Avalon, which will help developers build better user interfaces. The problem, however, is that developers are having a hard time jumping as far ahead into the future as Microsoft appears to be doing. Their dilemma will continue to be whether to wait until the next Microsoft platform and technology actually come along, or try to work ahead, and likely waste a lot of time and energy at the same time.