> My only dissent with this point is that with VFP6 press and the MCSD cert. news, I'm not sure it's "going away".

Well, it doesn't really matter if you're sure or not. The point is you're willing to look at the marketplace as it is today and evaluate the tools based on technical merit. Whether or not it goes away doesn't matter as long as you make informed decisions on the use of the appropriate tool.

> We know for sure that there is a Version 7 scheduled for late 2000 release. Let's assume that they don't have a Version 8...we're still current through 2002-2003 or so, right?

That's the timeframe I'm putting on it. VS 8 comes out in 2000 let's say and VS 9 comes out in 2001 or 2002 with no VFP or a version of VFP that hasn't been upgraded. With the direction the tools have taken in the last 4-5 years, I'd think in another 4-5 years you're not really going to be able to tell them apart

> Besides, I think MS likes to keep VFP around to try out new stuff (like the OOP switch).

That used to be my theory and it may still be valid. VFP is MS' Olds Mobile. :-)