Hey Rodman,

Happy holidays down in "the harbor" and congrats on the new one!

I think these discussions are fun although in the end, it all comes down to personal preference – something akin to religion. There are situations where VFP/.NET will outshine the other. I know that a certain well-known customer who relies on using VFP for serious data manipulations to perform important simulations has not found an alternative that comes close to VFP (and this party has worked extensively with outside consultants and MSFT on possible alternative solutions). I also know that .NET and SQL will probably outrun VFP in many tps metrics, especially with heavier loads.

I think the point you make that .NET will perform very well and possibly faster than VFP when finely tuned and optimized is an important consideration. This has been an issue the SQL Server team has dealt with for years where badly written apps will perform sub-optimally (same with VFP when data is not Rushmore optimized). Personally, I think MSFT has done a poor job in educating folks on how to do this or making the products work more efficiently in trying to optimize performance. OTOH, maybe it should not be an “education” issue but rather tools that just work “right” out of the box. So while I agree with you that a .NET app when optimized by a seasoned developer will perform exceptionally, maybe the bigger issue we should be discussing is the fact that the knowledge to create a .NET optimized app requires a fair amount of experience. This is something I know that scares many VFP developers when considering migration to .NET.

As for LINQ, I agree with you that maybe VFP folks will not think much of it. I will venture to guess that your take on this is that it is moot because much LINQ related stuff (e.g., SQL statements) are handled via stored procs, especially in the case of SQL Server. However to me, the real value of LINQ is more related to working with meta-data something VFP developers are distinct edge over .NET developers today. I think what is on the table for LINQ is a very good start, however, it would be nice to see more so that the next version of VS (Orcas) has a truly world-class meta data story (things such as execscript and more DML – not just the query stuff). Personally, I really like the C# syntax approach to all of this (take a look at the Channel 9 Anders video). It is clean and a bit more intuitive that traditional SQL which is starting to show its age (IMHO). I also think a key factor to the LINQ story is its full-text search smarts and performance – especially if MSFT wants a good story to compete with likes of Google.

So, will VFP folks buy any of this? Maybe. I guess I have never agreed with the strategy espoused by marketing and mgmt folks that VFP customers will flock like sheep to a new product if you simply add "VFP-like" features or language to it. Fox folks are funny and the premise that products can be evolved symmetrically based solely on language and a set of features is a false one. But LINQ is a very cool technology that will add tons of value and a much improved data story to the next version of VS for folks who choose that direction. And it would be nice to see some of this stuff in VFP <g>.

RB