It seems to me that the whole question of VFP is based on what Microsoft decides is beneficial to Microsoft. If Microsoft decides it is in the "best" interest to move to .Net, then the question becomes which one? Is it VB, C++, or C#? Now, if we (the VFP community) chooses one, what is to say that sometime in the future, Microsoft again decides that it is in the "best" interest to discontinue that product in favor of another product?

It appears then, that the question of how long to support a development platform is driven by the number of platforms available (MS wants to reduce the number, but keep all sales volume; i.e., shift the smallest platform to one that is larger). MS goal it seems is to reduce its development platforms (hence cost), but keep the volume. My understanding is that VFP provides a sufficient revenue stream on its own; if it were losing money, then no one would blame the business decision to discontinue it. Any small business would profit well from the revenue from sales of VFP.

If MS does drop the product, then the real question is what is the best platform to go forward with? This opens up to Java, Delphi, C++ Builder, to mention but a few. It would be interesting to see how many VFP developers would stay with Microsoft.