Kevin,

>>But please know that I didn't throw out things like asynchronous processing and raising/responding to events as a means to terminate the discussion with a simple trump card.

You know that MS doesn't support foxisapi any more. Yet you require web capability with no add-ons. That is an impossible hurdle.

>> Jeff's challenge included scalability, a very broad topic. I chose to go into some details by tasks including (but limited to) checking for emails and polling. These are handled more efficiently in .NET.

If this is to be educational, the whole purpose is to compare and contrast methodology. If we allow either environment to impose its own viewpoints or methodology, the contest will be a political battle of rules, not capability. That's not educational.

>> a few have mentioned LINQ in these discussions. To be fair, I'll welcome the capabilities in LINQ. I've never said .NET was perfect at handling local data. It can always be improved. But somehow there is this perception that the plans for LINQ complete invalidate what can be done today. Just because new (and welcome) additions are down the road, does not mean that all of the problems cannot be addressed today.

To be fair, nobody has suggested that. It is possible to cycle from Los Angeles to Washington. That does not prevent comparison between the bicycle and the car, train or aeroplane achieving the same. It would be wrong to insist on stops at 20 cities along the way just because the cyclist has to do that so it is only "fair" the others should have to as well.

It's not just LINQ, either. MS has stated right here on UT that VFP's autospanning local datasets are a priority for dotNET. Bring it on! That will remove the reservations of quite a few around here.