If MSFT were to make VFP9 free (like the express versions of C#, VB.NET, etc - ok they are not databases as well, but you get the picture) then just imagine...MS has a very effective game plan that involves control and direction of development efforts. Letting VFP loose into the wild would be contrary to this strategy. They'd rather see it fade away.
However, there would always be that pesky web app problemWhat pesky web app problem would that be? ;-) Our web app has browser, VFP, C++ and WPF front-ends with heavy lifting done at a distance by our server. With most customers still using WinXP I'll let you guess which is the most popular front-end. ;-)
"... They ne'er cared for us
yet: suffer us to famish, and their store-houses
crammed with grain; make edicts for usury, to
support usurers; repeal daily any wholesome act
established against the rich, and provide more
piercing statutes daily, to chain up and restrain
the poor. If the wars eat us not up, they will; and
there's all the love they bear us."
-- Shakespeare: Coriolanus, Act 1, scene 1
