>>I'm with you all the way on this. We would be able to use real, high powered editors, if we care to. We could use text manipulation programs written in Perl, or whatever, to modify or create code. The visual tools would become just that...tools, rather than the *only* convenient way to get at the code.
>>
>>Version control would be much more flexible...most V/C packages work best with text files.
>
>Wonderful! Thanks for understanding!
>
>Our mandate (as developers) is to develop solutions that "empower" Users, while we ourselves continue to stumble along using developer tools that surface the underlying architecture (one of the biggest mistakes a product can commit).
>

Gerry,

If you are into reading, this book can give you some pretty lofty targets to hit as a developer:

The Pragmatic Programmer: From Journeyman to Master

I have found the book to be pretty motivating, and it is a big proponent of storing as much as possible in text files.

You have to teach yourself ('you' means anyone listening) to think outside the box...in this case, the VFP box :)