John,

You won't get too many recommendations for Access in these parts. They change their message every few years (now it has something to do with Sharepoint), but there are a ton of Access users/databases out there and it's not going anywhere soon. I used it several years back (Access 97, I think), to work with data in SQL Server. I really liked how easy it was to create queries, reports, and simple data entry screens. When I needed more than that though, it got very frustrating. There was no OOP, so doing something simple like creating a textbox class couldn't be done. Also, all coding was done in VBA (which I admittedly knew little about), but working with data was much more tedious than I was used to with Fox. I was doing a lot of updates to the SQL Server data, which was unexpectedly slow in Access. I ended up bringing in VFP and learning how to use remote views (with which I had no previous experience), and that made the data updates much faster and life overall a lot better. I'm sure they have improved Access in many ways since then. I think they are moving to .NET for writing code (you can't escape!). Given your requirements for basically a single-user database that can be moved around easily, Access may not be a bad choice for you, but coming from Fox, you may find yourself feeling very confined.

Regarding migration tools, short of creating VFP.NET, there really isn't anything that would work well or get you more than a fraction of the way there. The vfpconversion.com tools are probably as good or better than anything Microsoft would put out. Even the VB6-to-VB.NET migration program left a lot of work to be done by VB developers. The goal of Sedna was to integrate better with other Microsoft tools, so we could (political issues aside) technically maintain our investment in Fox code for the next 10-15 years and, if we choose to, migrate at our own pace. Microsoft has been silent on the subject since then, but I feel like they've pretty much handed over the future of Fox to the community. With efforts like VFPX and commercial tools coming from vfpconversion.com and Etecnologia, the community has responded.

>Joel
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>I've made this speech before, and I'll make it again... sorry.
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>I am really upset with the fact that MS has provided no migration path for a discontinued VFP. They could have easily spent some time making the transition to .NET a little easier by providing a conversion program for forms and reports. A google search will return an app that supposedly converts VFP forms. Not sure how good it is, but MS should be the one providing this tool.
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>What guarantee do you have that MS won't dump .NET for the next "great" platform when they feel like it and then where does all your .NET experience go? I'm a realist, so I really don't expect that to happen, but I really didn't think MS would dump VFP without some kind of a migration to something. They really set us up...
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>While .NET might be the right choice for companies developing apps for mid-size to enterprise companies, I'm not sure it's the ONLY choice for small to mid-size. Especially, when you consider you are locking yourself into Windows at the same time. Five years ago I would have been the last one to say I'd be running Windows on a Mac, but here I am doing it and loving every minute of it. And now that I'm using OS X on a day-to-day basis, I'm no longer the Windows fan that I used to be. Let's just say, I've seen the light, and it's not Microsoft. Apple's market share is on the rise and with the reviews of Vista, whose to say what will happen to OSX's market share in another 10 years. Just take a look at the browser situation.... whose using Firefox as their default browser? I know I am! How does an open source browser suddenly steal the thunder from the world's largest software company?
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>I spent some time looking at Access 2007 and can't help but notice the migration of VFP features to that program. If you look at the top 10 features added in Access 2007, one of them is the "Wait Window". Supposedly, Access is now the only other app that has a "Wait Window". Coincidence or is Access going to become the new VFP? Everyone knows that Bill G. won't let Access die because he was a basic guru. Maybe the space occupied by VFP and Access was too small for two of them and Access won out.
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>Take a look at this commercial Access 2007 app and see if it doesn't remind you of a VFP app... http://www.pcesoft.com/iq2000.html
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>I'm not Access wouldn't be a better option for midsize apps ... familiar Office interface and will certainly ride the coat tails of improvements made in the Office Suite. Of course, you still have to fight the IT pros who will say "It's a what app?". But hey, if you can develop the front end in Access and use SQL Server Express as the backend, maybe you'll be ahead of the game than trying tackle the learning curve of .NET.
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>I don't think there is any question that VFP apps will run for at least 5 years after MS stops support it... perhaps even longer. In the mean time, we need both a short term alternative... perhaps Access ... and a long term alternative... perhaps .NET or something else. By making .NET the long-term alternative, it allows time for someone to jump in and introduce something that will make development that much easier.
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>It's funny. For the last half dozen years, I've felt that VFP provided us with an edge over any other development system out there. If we jump to .NET, we not only lose that edge, but will be playing catch up for years to come. I'm looking for something that will re-instate that edge over what everyone else is using. Right now, I just can't find it, but I'm going to take a hard look at Access before I jump to .NET.
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>>John,
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>>I think vertical market and shrink wrap software makers will be some of the final holdouts for converting to new technology, simply because we have such a large investment in existing code. Win32 is still king right now and the pressure is on to create new features, not move to the latest technology. "Look at me, I'm .NET!" doesn't sell a lot of software in my neck of the woods. Even Microsoft hasn't moved all of their business applications to .NET yet, although I imagine they are working on it. It can be a huge effort for any size company.
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>>At the same time, I think it is wise to learn about the newer technologies, even if it's just tinkering. Eventually, current VFP capabilities will not be acceptable in the marketplace, in the same way DOS and Windows 3.1 apps would be a hard sell right now. As next generation user interfaces like WPF become more popular, you don't want your app to look pale by comparison. Maybe by then VFPX will have comparable native controls for us or Etecnologia will have completed the .NET compiler. Still, I like to keep an eye on other technologies and see how well they work with VFP. I plan for that to be a common theme on my new blog (http://weblogs.foxite.com/joel_leach/).
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>>Bottom line: No one knows your customers, your market, or your technology needs better than you do. There's a lot of uncertainty since Microsoft decided to stop development on VFP, but if/when the time comes to make a change, you'll know it.
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