>--- SNIP
>>
>>Sure, all the major corporations that decide on a C/S solution do so blindly. And there's a government conspiracy to cover it up...
>>
>>VFP is a weak solution for WAN's. Companies want ENTERPRISE level data more and more, not LAN departmental data. Also, in major corporations, security and data integrity are of the up-most importance. When a client workstation power failure could possibly corrupt an index during production, i.e. Fox, you have a problem. And if a server fails, will Fox pick up AUTOMATICALLY with a transaction as SQL Server will on a reboot? Not from what I have read...
>>
>>Even small to medium sized companies can not afford to have the best system in place to protect their data. In the long run, SQL Server will provide all the database needs of MS products. If it's Gates vision, then you, as a small part of MS overall customer base, have no choice...
>--- end SNIP
>
>Jack,
>
>First, I do feel that many corps decide rather blindly on a C/S "solution" - it's the 'solution du jour'. But I think it's a conspiracy by the vendors generally (not the government) to make it sound like much much more than it really is.
>
>As for your "If it Gate's vision, then you, as a small part of. . ." you have forgotten (apparently) that the CUSTOMER IS KING. We, the VFP community generally, are at a double disadvantage because not only does your attitude seem to be the prevalent one, but also we are all living in mortal fear that MS will terminate VFP tomorrow if we are mis-compliant in ANY way shape or form!
>So we all bow to "the vision" and we all thank MS' VFP team profusely for shreds of progress and we all hail Mr. Green for his unending "battle" for regocnition of VFP within MS.
>
>Regards,
>
>Jim N

When the product manager has to raise awareness of the product within MS itself, then I think there is definitely a problem. Craig Berntson points to Mr. Green's valiant efforts, yet I think that Mr. Green should focus more attention on improving the product as opposed to marketing it. But isn't that the root of the problem?

Fox should continue to do what it does best, i.e. LAN apps. However, the Fox team has to keep it competitive in the area of C/S and Web development. It seems like a half-hearted attempt as far as the Internet when the VFP forms only run under IE 4.01; doesn't do much to push VFP for e-commerce, eh? And when it comes to C/S, it seems that Fox still lacks the more direct links to SQL Server that VB and VC++ offer, but I suppose ADO should rectify that...

If MS was truly committed to Fox, why didn't the company do more to integrate the Fox engine with the other tools. Yes, certain aspects of it have been implemented, but why not the whole of it since the beginning? VB could have been kept a true general purpose programming language, and Fox pushed as the data development tool. But MS has not done this, and the majority of the customer base has evidently never requested it.

So, MS has some sort of vision. The majority of its customer base has bought into it. And I doubt that there's much that any of us can do to stop it. Would you consider boycotting VFP 6.0 as a protest against the delivery of a less than desirable upgrade?

Regards,
Jack