You tell us the people didn't know what they were doing — so why blame the tools?
(Incidentally, I used Envy/Developer for years.)
Not every programmer is a superstar. Visual basic was a much better environment for average guys doing green screen replacement jobs.
I was briefly involved with a project that sounds a bit like that — a 2 week training course for current staff, then rewrite everything from data model to U/X in half-the-usual time because someone said OO is more productive.
That project used ENVY/Developer. The staff admin deleted the repo. The staff wouldn't have passed phone screen for Smalltalk work (maybe some would have in 6 or 12 months). When the people don't know the basic tools, that's what matters.