>My counter argument is that if the marketing message in the marketplace is that VFP is end-of-line (and that message has been floating around since VFP3 days) then what else could MS possibly expect but declining sales? If you don't promote a product, and moreover even allow negative marketing messages to prevail, then naturally sales will fall.
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>That may be. But this is also a chicken and egg argument. If the sales of new versions had been better, perhaps MS would have seen some value in producing a new version. However, I do believe that nothing was going to make their marketing of VFP any better.

When you do not try to sell something the expectation should be that few items will be sold.

When you outright anounce that a product will be marketed only to current users you are deliberately constraining the potential sales even further. And when the numerous complaints about the situation are responded to by **some** "gurus" by "that's their strategy, so get over it" a shrinking of the market should be expected.

To blame the ultimate demise of VFP on the community's failure to embrace new releases is arrogant and preposterous to anyone who has even a minor inkling of what has transpired over the last 10 years of Microsoft's marketing of VFP.