I need to find someone to build an application. Don't know where to start
looking, but thinking that newsgroups where I might find a developer are
going to be development system specific. That got me thinking that, if it
will make a difference in the final product, I might want to go into this
with a specific development system in mind.

The app will need to be able to communicate via both comm port and TCP/IP
Mostly consists of communication with a piece of hardware (either directly
via comm port, or via cellular modem through TCP/IP) to send and receive
setup information & download data. Need to keep track of settings of
multiple devices, provide ability to group these devices for programming
purposes, and display some status information.

May be used on anything from Win98 running on an old laptop to
latest/greatest OS in a server environment.

Very high priority items a
* Ease of installation
* Reliability

Do these issues suggest anything in terms of the development system to use?

Thanks,
Scott Kelley