And the beat goes on ...

I'm one of those who think dbfs still have their place and that VFP remains viable in some circumstances in 2007. I suppose I may be in denial despite having used SQL Server/Oracle exclusively for customer data since 1995... ;-) but in that case, why are we seeing all these free "lite" databases from major vendors who sell proper databases? Perhaps they're in denial too. ;-)

Here's why I think dbfs will survive: they're everywhere; they're cheap; they don't require expert maintenance; they don't need big hardware; and a sizable market seems immune to every argument against their use. Recent news that 70% of businesses are not planning to move to Vista for reasons that include reluctance to upgrade hardware and compatibility with existing software makes me wonder whether that sizable market is even bigger than I thought.

If I were setting out today to sell an IT product, I'd target the small business market with apps that will work on the lousiest hardware, give me and the customer maximum control, require as few external licenses as possible, and require as little maintenance as possible. If I could achieve that with a lite C/S product, I'd do it, just to get the tick in the box. If the customers are likely to use Quickbooks (which is very likely) I'd lean towards SQL Anywhere since that's what Quickbooks uses. Otherwise I'd use dbfs or Jet with VB or VFP as a front-end.

What would you do?