>I'm trying to think of a true parallel to this in any other industry, but can't think of a good one. The closest I can think of is my story (look up my blog) about why I won't buy anything from Gilette anymore - they always stop supplying the razors for whichever handle I bought from them, and want me to switch to the new kind. I don't see this pushing me to switch as help. I see it as an attempt to get more money out of me, at the additional cost of making my previous investment useless.

Well, you might ask the same question for the other xBase tools. Speaking of which where is the xBase market today? Eh - FoxPro is the one that's even still around. Maybe you would have been better off with Clipper? Visual Objects worked out real well didn't it? How about dBase getting sunk by Borland in a 2 year window?

The problem is that xBase as a technology got completely marginalized in the late 90's and FoxPro had enough of a user base then to warrant continuing on. But since then - the userbase has dropped significantly with zero influx of new people. Fewer users who buy the product, technology that doesn't fit with Microsoft's strategic vision - what's not to like for Microsoft?

There's no doubt VFP is a great product - I've built and have been involved some really amazing FoxPro applications, applications that many people would have said aren't possible with a tool like FoxPro and seen many more that are even mroe amazing in scope and functionality. But all that doesn't matter for a vendor who sees those same applications that can be built with other tools that fit closer to the direction of the company!

You may feel abandoned but you have plenty of choices including sticking with FoxPro and doing what presumably you ahve been doing for the last 10 years or more.

>And in the real land, it's M$ way or the highway? I'll take the highway then.

Ah yes, now we're getting somewhere. A little kick in the a.s.s. sometimes can cause wonders to happen. But don't think for a minute that other companies or mismanaged open source projects won't leave you in the same 'abandoned' state when they perceive it's not in their best interest to leave a technology behind. It's not as uncommon a practice as you are trying to paint it.

And especially given that Microsoft has explicitly not KILLED vfp - there's nothing stopping you from running VFP until the day you die...

+++ Rick ---