Craig,

>You're exactly right when you say it is all speculation. Until June 1, we won't know.

I agree. And yet, I have never seen Ken post so frequently about the topic of VFP's "future" as he has over the past month. Ken's been dropping hints all over the place. I've been tracking Ken's recent posts (UT, Profox, MSDN forum) and I would be surprised if his June newsletter includes anything new beyond what he's already posted.

My take (clearly speculation and based on my interpretation of Ken's comments/hints) is that there will be no VFP 10. VFP will move off the active development and enhancement path and on to life support. The "bright spot" (cough) in all this is the pitch of more .NET interop and a soft landing with the promise of support until 2014.

Unfortunately, for me, a statement of no more new versions is, in my opinion, a death sentence. And a big mistake in lost good will on Microsoft's part.

As a customer, I have a very hard time understanding how the revenue earned from VFP _AND_ the goodwill and ancilatory revenue generated by VFP applications (OS, Office and server sales) don't justify the continued development (vs. life support) of this product, especially given the incredibly tiny team and I assume minimal overhead asssociated with VFP?

Speaking of goodwill, one of the intangible values of VFP is its unique sense of community. How many MS products have developed such a loyal, passionate, perhaps even fanatical following? You can't buy this level of enthusiasm (even with billions in marketing) or bully customers into loving a product - you have to earn it the old fashioned way. Clearly the VFP product has earned its following.

I'm dismayed that Microsoft management sees no value in its passionate VFP community. Perhaps this is another indication of how far out of touch Microsoft is with its customer base? Where is the passion? When was the last time you heard customers getting excited about the next release of a MS operating system or new version of Office? IMO, the last time you saw this type of customer passion (outside of the VFP community) was the release of Windows 95. Flash forward 10 years and billions of dollars and still no real, genuine excitement.

A plea to Microsoft: Reach out and embrace your VFP customers. Take our passion and loyalty and help extend it to your other products. Learn from us. Our passion and loyalty is strong but brittle. Don't throw away one of your true gems!!!

Un-cage your Fox! Let the Fox live!