>Some VFP developers need help just to write more robust and attractive VFP programs. Some of those bandwagoning for the conversion have confessed that most of their VFP products are little more than grids on a form.
>
>A good understanding of VFP and OOP will go a long way in helping us understand other technologies.
>
>How is a VFP Grid (only) developer going to migrate to DOT anything when all she/he can do is select into a cursor to populate grid cells.

There is a great deal of material available on these topics available, via FoxTalk newsletter, FoxPro Advisor magazine, the CoDe Focus issues on VFP8 and VFP9, articles in the MSDN Library, articles in UT Magazine, and of course the many great VFP books available at http://www.hentzenwerke.com.

Over half of VFP developers use SQL Server with VFP. Over half the VFP customer base plans to use .NET in some way within the next few years, and over 25% already do use VS.NET along with VFP. And most of them are seeking more content and/or training in this area. While the grid and OOP are good core topics, the demand at this time is on learning new technologies to add to their existing VFP skill set.

There is a small percentage of VFP developers who want to use VFP and nothing else, and that is fine. But the highest demand for education and new materials right now by VFP developers is in the area of learning more about .NET, SQL, XML, XML web services, ASP.NET, and other technologies which help bring VFP applications beyond what a typical stand-alone VFP solution can deliver.

The simple fact is, if a VFP developer knows how to and does create ASP.NET web page and/or .NET components integrated with their VFP applications and/or uses SQL Server as the database, that developer may be more marketable in the industry and their solutions may be more powerful/flexible for the end users. The issue here is supply and demand, and it is not about forcing anyone to learn or use anything they don't want or need.