Many people will stay working in VFP for years, other may wait a year or so to have LINQ released and stable, other may start (or have started already) working in other platforms. In .NET you can used typed or untyped dataset, DTOs, full business object or other meanings for data access, and you don't even need to choose a single one.

Do you have no opinion/advice beyond generalities? ;-) I feel as if I've gone to a doctor and been told "if your chest pain is a heart attack I'll admit you, but if it's only indigestion I'll give you medicine. There is no single answer."

Of course there is no single answer. But what to do? There are pointers and standard advice that leads towards each unique answer. I'm not a leader, we have MVPs for that. Don't we? We need to move beyond generalities if we are professionals and that means engaging and comparing features. We can't make decisions for each other but reviewing the facts and reporting findings is a crucial first step. IMHO.