My personal experience... I've been using MFC for years, and I recently decided to write my first significant client app in C#/.NET. I have to say that I'm really pleased so far. There's is just so much more that's done for you already, and it really minimizes the amount of code you have to write/maintain. I would say that if your client app is heavily based around file access, UI, databases, or networking... then give C# a try. But if your app relies on a lot of direct memory access and processing type behaviors, then perhaps stick with C++/MFC. You could always try managed C++ and use forms in that way, but it just seems strange to me, personally.

Perforce (www.perforce.com) is free for up to 2 users, and is the best source control app I've used professionally. It may be a bit more complicated for the average user than some apps, but it's fast and stable (and has a great track record with professional developers).

Hey thanks... that was the missing piece! :) Direct and helpful. Now I know...

So this is probably a dumb question, but I'm new to network programming and just trying to figure out all the details... I've been messing around with settings up a Server/Client application, using the TcpClient and TcpListener objects. These are nice and easy, but how do I communicate outside of my local network? For instance, how do I start a server on a computer on my network with a router assigned address (ie. 192.168.X.XXX) and have someone else connect to it from another location? I can't just give them the 192.168.X.XXX address to type in for their TcpClient... so how do I establish a connection, or can I? Do I just need to have a server that isn't connected to the internet by a router? Basically I want to so something similar to what a game server would do... start up a game and act as the server, have people connect to it, transfer some data, then shut everything down. Is there just another way to obtain an address that will properly resolve to my server if it's on a router? Thanks in advance...