Our decisions around VFP today and how we plan to enhance VFP over the next few years are not based on sales of VFP 9.0. For over 10 years, usage and sales of VFP have steadily decreased annually. The VFP roadmap will not mention anything around a service pack for VFP 9.0, but it is likely something on that front will be in my June letter targeting a near end of 2005 release. VFP 9.0 is by far the most stable version of VFP we have ever released with very few issues reported. An SP1 would probably release around the end of this year based on feedback, reports, etc. A service pack is completely independent of our plans on enhancing VFP in the future, which is what the VFP Roadmap will outline in detail.

The goal is that when the VFP Roadmap is released along with some basic Q&A in the FAQ page added, there won't be anything that insiders know that you and others in the VFP community don't know. We want to expose all that we are planning, thinking, doing, etc. (transparency) around VFP long term so there are nothing to assume or guess. Top executives have already seen the VFP Roadmap details, and the VFP team has already started working on enhancing VFP beyond version 9.0 (aside from an SP). People should keep in mind that our goals and focus is on how VFP apps run in 5+ years rather than on specific IDE, engine, and language features.