I could offer an explanation without asking myself based on my history. Other then my dive in the dotcom tank for a year, I've worked in several categories of companies:

1) Small companies writing internal with foxpro.
2) Medium to large companies that use foxpro for the quick and dirty type solutions. Or solutions for problems where they don't have a mainframe solution available.
3) Small companies writting apps for big companies.

Typically, the small company doesn't have the resources to train their development staff in other tools. In the case of the small company writing for a big company, the app was started because someone at the small company knew someone in the client area at the big company. Once corporate IT got involved, any further work the small company had the chance to do, was in dotnet.

In scenario #2 above, that market has shrunk considerably for a couple reasons I'm aware of. One, the company has trained their IT staff and has changed their choice of tools. Or two, the company was purchased and the foxpro staff was let go or trained in the tool choice at the purchasing company.

Also, as can be gathered from conversations here, there is a core group of developers who work on their own, don't have the resources to spend to learn another tool and are comfortable with doing work in foxpro.

In particular, I think MS has acknowledged the steadfastness of this core group in maintaining VFP as a product option.


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>Which leads to something else you need to consider. Some think that VFP's continued presence *at all* is truly remarkable. MS has successfully flattened numerous external apps but hasn't managed to do the same with something in its own ranks. Ask yourself how that might be explained.