Hi gang. Would you test this also and confirm or say where I'm going wrong. Issue is related with this topic on MS forums:
http://forums.microsoft.com/MSDN/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=888543&SiteID=1&mode=1

Got no reply there and trying my chance here.

--Run in SSMS against AdventureWorks sample database
SELECT TerritoryId,
[2003-01],[2003-02],[2003-03],[2003-04],[2003-05],[2003-06],
[2003-07],[2003-08],[2003-09],[2003-10],[2003-11],[2003-12],
[2004-01],[2004-02],[2004-03],[2004-04],[2004-05],[2004-06],
[2004-07]
from ( select TerritoryId,
   CONVERT(CHAR(7), h.OrderDate, 120) AS theDate, d.LineTotal
   FROM Sales.SalesOrderHeader h JOIN Sales.SalesOrderDetail d ON h.SalesOrderID = d.SalesOrderID
) p
pivot (
sum(LineTotal) for theDate in ([2003-01],[2003-02],[2003-03],[2003-04],[2003-05],[2003-06],
[2003-07],[2003-08],[2003-09],[2003-10],[2003-11],[2003-12],
[2004-01],[2004-02],[2004-03],[2004-04],[2004-05],[2004-06],[2004-07])
) pvt
order by TerritoryId

Inner select runs in 390 milliseconds. However full SQL with pivot takes 5187 milliseconds. Repeated runs might change it a few milliseconds but the general timing stands.

Now if I instead simply ask for the inner SQL from VFP and pivot myself then tmings are:

For same period range used in sample (less months):
Got data-elapsed:457
XTabbed-total elapsed:729

For all 37 months:
Got data-elapsed:455
XTabbed-total elapsed:741

Question is where do I go wrong in PIVOT syntax?

PS: Creating a CLR procedure to generate month column names insetad of hard coding, and limiting the period of inner select didn't help but even if it did, is not the main question here.
I used my own xtabbing routine not VFP _xtab. If you need it I can provide. TIA
Cetin