>Last week, we have reached a major goal on the Universal Thread. Since its debut, it was running with VFP Web engines and most recently with WWC for the last 10 years. The site is now responding under a .NET application which makes us of my own framework. For the last 14 months, I have migrated the entire application to .NET, and without all the help I received here, this wouldn't have been possible. So, I take the time to thank all of you who helped me during that timeframe and also to thank Rick Strahl, for his wonderful West Wind product, which I have made good use for several years.
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>With all the optimization done in the last week, the site is now responding with great response time. So, the move to SQL Server, which I have justified because of the VFPOleDb data provider which is having problems under IIS, will be delayed a little bit. As of now, the site responses ok. So, there wouldn't be any need to rush things here. I still do not have any table approaching the 2 GIG limit. So, I am good with that as well. But, if ever the need would be there, the move to SQL Server is something that can be done with minimum effort.
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>I would also take the occasion to talk about the subscription and its importance for this site. Without it, we wouldn't be able to support this site. We still have a great number of members using it on a regular basis without a subscription. With or without its benefits, it woul be a great move to subscribe to the site, even if it would only be to support its infrastructure. Nothing is free in this world and providing this infrastructure requires a certain amount of subscriptions per month.
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>In regards to the subscription, I will also release some more benefits to it. So, in the mean time, you can also request more benefits by posting in this forum.
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>A subscription can be purchased by clicking on SUBSCRIBE from the main page or directly at this link: https://www.levelextreme.com/DataEntryPurchase.aspx?Session=706E4A763966734D59526B3D203550356B4A46377A46685A7552372B6C496C444C55773D3D.

Congratulations on being able to move the UT to .NET, something important for its scalability and your own skills.

Wishing to help you figure out how to get more users to subscribe I reflected on why I have done it for several years. The answer is easy: this site is extremely important to me because of the direct impact it has on my ability to be more effective as a developer and I recognize that part of that is to make it attractive to you by paying for a subscription.

How does it help me be more effective as a developer? Mostly because of the extraordinary people who answer questions here. Even if I only get a few questions answered a year it is worth it to me because I need it at those times. A second reason is I need to do all I can to make sure that the VFP community and VFP itself survive and succeed, and helping this forum thrive works in that direction. There are other VFP forums but I like your thread format, the critical mass you have achieved and the experts who answer questions here. The photos help make it more personal. I like the news in the login page.

Placing myself in your shoes, how you get more people to subscribe is going to depend on how able you are in making the UT professionably valuable and even indispensable for them. The UT is a place to get your questions answered and a place to learn new skills. Figure out how to keep the site valuable to the experts that answer questions here, as they are the key to your success. Continue being the VFP community champion. Focus on making the site a better and better learning place, perhaps highlighting individual .NET Magazine articles in the login page or the forum to generate awareness and discussion.

If you can make others as convinced as I am that it is important for them that the UT is successful that will go a long way. Good luck.

Alex