Hi Peter,

I never said it was trivial. End-of-life-cycle is always tricky, going back in history. Who wanted to buy an Oldsmobile once they accounced they were going to quit making cars in two years? Even though one of their newer cars was very nice (having rented it on a couple of business trips). Even without the name, that which was released was enough to make the announcement anything but a surprise. And I'm not saying that Ken was blowing smoke when he wrote that statement; I had read the statement at the time it was written. On the other hand, I respect the truth told from the unconscious (all those years as a psychologist, I guess <s>), at least as much as I respect more conscious communications.

Hank

>Hank, you stated: those of us who looked up Sedna (a dark, lonely solar satellite that might or might not be a planet, at the very edge of the solar system) when it was announced, had taken the hint...
>
>I was one of those who have looked up Sedna. I have asked Ken to clear up things about the name and he has explicitly denied that it was a hint. Some here (including me) have trusted that explanation. Others (you?!) apparently not. This is not a trivial point of discussion. Moot, perhaps. But not trivial. People like me have been made very clear last week that we have been naive and that selfblame is the only appropriate consequence. But I'm of opinion that 'the naive' have shown more respect for and trust in the words of MS representatives than those who say they saw clear signs on the walls. (The Sedna word was only one of those 'signs'. Other 'signs' too have been checked and denied, that is: not confirmed, by MS personnel.)
>
>
>>Ken's comment came some time after the name had been announced; it was also announced that there was no decision regarding versions beyond Sedna; nor a determination whether Sedna would be VFP10. It was also announced that the focus of Sedna would be exactly what it turned out to be. I have no reason to believe that a decision was made then; I do believe that the handwriting was on the wall, with MS, as to what the decision would be.
>>
>>I blogged at the time that the handwriting was on the wall for those of us outside MS (and that there was no reason to use other than VFP for projects at that time, if that was the right tool).
>>
>>When they choose the name of an island (Orcas) I can sort-of believe it has no meaning, although Orcas is the biggest of the San Juan Islands, and shares a name with the Orca whales which inhabit the area. And VS2007 is in many ways the first complete version of .Net (with language features planned 2 versions ago, D/Linq, support for WPF and WCF, etc.). So it is, in fact, a whale of a release. <s>
>>
>>And I am grateful for the VFP team's forthrightness at the time of VFP9's release, and for Yag's willingness to be point on this with the VFP community. The easy way would have been to hide behind press releases, and let us all twist in the wind of wish-driven breezes of doomed hope. They did the right thing.
>>
>>Hank
>>
>>>>You, and those who made the decision to make things very clear, did a great job. Letting the MVP's blog the information from the Summit was useful, as we had information coming from multiple sources. Thanks for your efforts in this, and thanks for the VFP team's efforts in making VS a workable environment relative to the fine-tuned, developer-friendly environment we have had in VFP. I can understand the anguish in the community; but those of us who looked up Sedna (a dark, lonely solar satellite that might or might not be a planet, at the very edge of the solar system) when it was announced, had taken the hint, and experienced the anguish: any other decision would have been a (delightful) surprise.
>>>
>>>Hank, so that was one of those signs on the wall, one of those hints? Then please read this: Re: Sedna - a metaphore?! Thread #1022432 Message #1022584
>>>
>>>Still sure that really was a hint?
>>>
>>>>Now, if IronPython were to become a full-fledged member of VS... <s>
>>>>
>>>>Hank
>>>>
>>>>>Not sure how to answer this. We've said for years that VFP wasn't a strategic product. We said that one reason I owned VS Data was to get the VS team (and particularly VB) understand VFP and vice verse. We said that we were working on LINQ as well as Sedna.
>>>>>
>>>>>That said, there was no decision to end VFP core enhancements until fairly recently. As part of that discussion, we decided to open source Sedna at no charge. After that decision, the next question was "should we tell folks"? Note that not many companies do that so openly. The team's reaction was "of course we should" and we stuck to that thru a number of discussions. The next question was when and how do we tell people? With the MVP summit coming up, I felt that telling them in person was the right thing to do. So we hurried to get everything in place (and there's a lot to get in place so we can answer questions about support, the MVP program, etc.). Basically, I've been working over 100 hours a week the past few weeks. I give props to my current manager, Sandy, for letting me put aside much of my regular work to focus on this for a few weeks less than a month before we release four products that I've architected to beta.
>>>>>
>>>>>I hope that helps.
>>>>>
>>>>>yag
>>>>>