Hi All,

I thought I'd take yet another shot at it. . .

WAIT NOWAIT "The following contains conjecture and opinion based on limited knowledge"
SET MODE PESSIMISTIC

Some conclusions based on:
a) MS is "targeting" VFP as the middle-tier od a 3/n-tier solution;
b) The FP Advisor article on VFP 6.0 in the June/98 issue;
c) Reports and comments read on UT since DEVCON

According to the FPA story. . ."Due to apartment model threading, server UI is no longer allowed at all". Assuming this to be true, it is most revealing indeed:
1. Mid-tier would indeed be a Server, so no UI would be permitted;
2. No UI essentially eliminates any need to improve upon *any* of the current visual controls and containers.
3) No UI essentially eliminates the need to successfully integrate the vast majority of available ActiveX controls since most all (except ADO) are oriented to UI.
4) No UI essentially eliminates the need for a OOP menu facility and likely does the same for a OOP report capability.
5) No UI essentially eliminates the need to have "Windows-compliant" screen object, so forget about ever using automated testing software with VFP.

In other words, from a strictly UI perspective, it is most likely that what we have today is all that we will have forever. No enhancements to Grids or ComboBoxes or anything else UIish - bug fixes at most.

Is it worh it to just let it (possibly) happen this way, or is it worth it to try to take some steps to ensure that it doesn't happen this way? Or are you quite sure this is really totally out to lunch?

Regards,

Jim N