>>>>>>>>Is true that vfp will not have a new version anymore
>>>>>>>>and what will happened to the users, migrate to another langauge rivals of microsoft?
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>New version, no. No longer exist? Not true. I still use it every day and it hasn't vanished. I wonder whether they'd have the technology to retroactively erase all the disks with it.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>They'd have to work awfully hard to do so. I had lunch at a roadside restaurant in Slovakia last week (on the road between Budapest and Krakow) and their POS system was written in FoxPro DOS. (Yes, I took pictures.)
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>I have worked on a couple of POS systems.
>>>>>
>>>>>Oh wait, you mean Point Of Sale....
>>>>
>>>>Move your mouse over the upper right corner of the message area, "Message view settings", right-click, and select Enable acronyms. Then P0S will be automatically expanded into Point of sale.
>>>
>>>The fact that VFP will no longer exist brings it's own pressures - I work as an independent consultant and my largest client (whose IT knowledge could be written on the back of a postage stamp) is already saying we should move to another language - apart from the threat to my livelihood - it doesn't make a great deal of commercial sense - ours is a big app (about 60,000 lines of code) and to move it to a different platform would be a highly expensive operation and could take forever
>>>
>>>Any thoughts on how best to answer such clients who are already panicking?
>>
>>I always say "If it ain't broke, don't fix it". Besides that, I know that trying to get people to realize that they are jumping to wrong conclusions, can be like fighting windmills. It can hurt you more than it will help them.
>
>Yes I think you are right Tore - it definitely aint broke - don't see them rushing to change their cars cos Mercedes no longer makes that model
>
>Out of interest we still use VFP6 with one app in VFP9 - we dipped our toes in the water with VFP7 and hated it so stayed with VFP6 which does all we want - I am advised however that should I wish to move to a SQL backend I would be well advised to upgrade to VFP9 - what do you think and are the benefits to be gained from moving to SQL worth the hassle when the system is as stable as any constantly developing environment can be?

Personally I have zero experience with SQL backends, because I have nevered really needed it. As you also write, VFP9 is as very stable, and if you have a UPS on every workstation, you have nothing to worry about. Having said that, I have heard many say that the combination of VFP9 and SQL server is unbeatable unless there are specicial reasons not to use VFP9 as frontend.

Keep in mind that VFP9 is in many aspects a complete product, Microsoft really had problems finding more features to include which were not already there, or available as third party addons. The main reason why they decided to discontinue VFP, was that it did not bring in as much cash as the alternatives would do. But this does not mean that VFP is dead, on the contrary, it means that VFP is "grown up, and does not need its mother anymore".