Craig,

>As for marketing, you could always utilize your wit and easy-going style

You really think so? Thanks.


>to write a Visual FoxPro related article that shows it in a positive light and then post it somewhere on the internet.

I don't think so. I mean not on the internet. I'm not sure that an article on the internet has the same impact as an article written for a respected magazine. But I also understand that it would probably a lot easier to have something appear on the internet compared to a magazine. I find your article idea really interesting. Writing something good is not an easy task. It takes a lot of preparation and research. If I find the time here and there it could be interesting.


>Imagine if 100,000+ Visual FoxPro developers all took the time to do something similar just a few times a year... that would certainly constitute a marketing blitz. Improving the overall Visual FoxPro experience, increasing its visibility, and upgrading to the newest version are all things that the VFP Community can do... but it takes a little effort, time, and money.

I imagine that the majority of those developers are concentrating more on building top-notch applications than writing articles. That would be their way to market VFP. Theyre's a saying that goes like this "those that can't program write articles" <g>. I think that it's only a minority that can program and also write in a proper way. I'm not even sure I could write an article. To do quick replies here is something. To write an entire article is another ball game.


>I understand your comments

So does this mean that you don't agree with them? You only understand? You can't stay on the fence you'll have to pick a side <g>

>regarding marketing and the basic arguments that are made for why Visual FoxPro has been dealt a bad hand. However, every time someone reads something about a product it's considered an "impression" (from a advertising standpoint). How many times has someone read "VFP is Dead" or "MS is killing VFP" or "MS doesn't market or support VFP" over the years in a post, blog entry, or article by well-intentioned VFP developers that are given to Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt (FUD)? Though the exact number can't be known, it is certainly in the tens of millions. What kind of impression are you making?

First my impressions appear only here. I also know that many agree with what I'm saying. I'm practically sure that my rants over here don't affect VFP that much. What would be the percentage of VFP developers that are regulars over here? From that percentage what is the percentage of those developers here reading my replies.

So overall it's probably not that big a deal.

Like I said before in another thread "to remain silent is to agree". Why do you think MS is putting so many efforts into data processing for .Net (Orca). And that a lot of stuff comes from VFP. Because of internals at MS that thought "Hmm the data-processing side of .Net is just crap. We should do something about that". I don't think so. Complaints by a majority made them move.

And an enterprise will move a lot faster when millions make complaints compared to hundreds (VFP).


>The world is what we make of it. If you feel that Visual FoxPro needs a little more marketing and PR, it is certainly within your power to do something about it. MS doesn't hold all the cards, to imply that they do is a defeatist attitude that flies in the face of reason.

Perhaps you're right. This could be a defeatist attitude but I don't seem to remember any small group of individuals that ever made MS change their mind. So do have any cases to share with me where it happened? Because frankly to me right now this looks like David (Me and a couple hundreds fanatics) vs Goliath (MS).


>We develop in one of the greatest data centric, object oriented development tools that has ever existed. There's no reason that is not marketable, with or without help from Microsoft.

I totally agree with you. As for the marketing I prefer with than without the help of MS. Don't you? ;-)



>
>>Excerpt from that site
>>
>>"...Fox in Microsoft's Tool-Suite Coop
>>By Darryl K. Taft
>>August 26, 2005 ..."
>>
>>"...Despite putting FoxPro features in the key Orcas language, Microsoft has said it will be releasing another version of FoxPro, FoxPro 9..."
>>
>>Wow looks like that marketing campaign done for the release of VFP 9 was a HUGE success <vbg>
>>
>>Or then again perhaps it was a typo and the author wanted to write 10. If it's the case then perhaps that author knows things that we don't.
>>
>>Or perhaps the marketing campaign has'nt started yet.
>>
>>Hmm to do one (marketing campaign) or not to do one (marketing campaing) that is (the everlasting) question.
>>
>>But anyways I'm surprised that they mentioned FoxPro and Visual FoxPro. Cause this could place them in a delicate situation. If they took DATA things from the Fox to put it in .Net then it must mean that the Fox is not so bad at handling data. If the Fox is not so bad then why MS hardly ever say anything good about the Fox (Marketing).
>>
>>Oh well I'm getting too excited again. Darn where did I put those pills <g>
>>
>>
>>>I just blogged about today's eWeek online news story that mentions the "Zorro" team working on new data features for VB.NET. (Thanks to Russell Campbell for pointing me to the news.)
>>>
>>>The blog entry is here:
>>>
>>>http://talkingfox.blogspot.com/2005/08/someones-been-talking-eweek-reveals.html
>>>
>>>The complete news story is here:
>>>
>>>http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1852979,00.asp
>>>
>>>Very interesting...