I couldn't agree more with what you've just stated about the stability of VFP 9. Also, your words about "transparency" in another post were well received. It is difficult to read between the lines at times. You must tire of the endless stream of "sky falling" paranoia that is so pervasive on VFP boards throughout the web. How much hand holding is needed? <g> That having been said, please understand that a clear statement of intent and a modicum of support and encouragement from MS and heavyweights in the field goes a long way. VFP has and will continue to have a perception problem... it can be seen clearly enough. No sooner has the best version of VFP yet been released and rumors of it's demise begin to circle. I would say that I don't get it, but I can understand why this happens and will continue to happen. There is a lack of confidence among a portion of it's users and proponents (though they are hard pressed to admit it at times). I suffered a bout of this myself some years back (of course this was before a guy named Ken got a job at MS). Couple this deficiency with the usual steady migration of developers to other tools (.NET lately), and throw in the shame factor that is sometimes levied by those outside the community and you get what we have here. The grass is inevitably greener on the other side of the fence no matter which side you find yourself on... and if it's not then you will convince yourself that given time it will be and blame it on the lawn care company who seems to be spending more time on the neighbors lawn than yours.

It's all patently ridiculous... VFP is an awesome tool and can't be matched in a number of ways by any other product currently on the market. .NET can't and won't replace it (for those VFP Developers that are given to fear, please re-read that statement over and over again until you feel your backbone returning). Leveraging .NET from VFP? I'm all for it... it's a no brainer, and contrary to certain beliefs, it is the next quantum leap that VFP can take and nothing but good for the product as a whole. An MS product that can't leverage the .NET framework will indeed be relegated to the shelf at some point. .NET will no doubt prove to be a great augmentation to VFP (it's already happening) as support and useable features are added. I use .NET for what .NET excels at (mainly ASP.NET) and I use VFP for what it excels at (data centric applications using VFP backends for small-medium projects and SQL Server for large). The ability to leverage .NET's power from VFP is a Win-Win, to think of it any other way is distorted in the extreme.

Bottom line: VFP is on the upswing on all fronts. Ken, you and the rest of the VFP Team at MS hit the ball out of the park with this latest release. VFP applications are already starting to reflect the quantum leap that was made and the surface of what's possible with VFP 9 has just begun to be scratched. So go market some VS 2005 (I don't fault you - another great product that is sure to be well received), while we take VFP around the block a few times and show it off and perhaps garner MS a few more die-hard enthusiasts in the process.