Hiya Jim N.

With the exception of your opinion on fixing DBFs (you know how I feel about that <g>), I agree with you.

Another point that I failed to raise in my own response to John was that there are times when one could care less about a client/server app. In those cases then VFP does fit the total bill.

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>Your analysis is excellent, but it is wholly MS-centric!! Let me give you a more customer-centric viewpoint:
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>FPD/FPW was almost magical in its power of DB access speed, and most of this was retained with the move to VFP.
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>FPD/FPW was, essentially all in one box, everything one needed to build a full-function "run-the-company" app., with no per-user licensing and no other external requirements save a network to serve the data.
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>MS, apparently unsatisfied with that state of affairs, set about to change things. The first thing they did was to give short shrift to the DBF format, doing absolutely *NOTHING* to further enhance it in any way. Then they invented real kludge ways to access "other data formats" and pronounced that as the way of the future. This meant that it was necessary to license SQL Server (or some other, which didn't work quite as well, Im told), to get your work done. So now we have a facility which is crippled (cf R. Strahl says a minimum 50% decrease in response for DB access and Goley compares 5 seconds in VFP with 9+ minutes in SQL) by comparison and which requires more bucks by far and more skills by far just to end up WORSE off than we were before!
>Sure, that makes more bucks for MS, but that is no reason to support such a loss. Where else in commerce do the users/customers readily support the actions of a firm which inevitably result in more cost and poorer service?? Not too often, I dare say.
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>Sure, you can play on my sensibilities and ego by promoting the fact that I am better off knowing 2 or 3 or 4 languages over a single language. The BIG difference is that, until now it has always been MY CHOICE. For instance, I learned French thoroughly because I believed it would be useful to me in my home country. I still feel that way, though I rarely USE it. But it was my chioce. In the case of VFP, by keeping the product down, they are FORCING me. I don't like this.
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>You know, I once read that there were over 1 million FPD/FPW programmers. Now we are down to less than one-half million! Do you think VFP 3 had anything to do with this??? I sure do! VFP 6 seems to address this - perhaps a little too late. Who knows???
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>John, it sure sounds like you are paid by Microsoft. You sure don't seem to think like a customer.
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