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>>>There is FUD in a move from one platform to another, no doubt, but my main issue is that M$ has screwed me once and I don't want them to have that opportunity again.
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>>I get that part and can't say I disagree (I would have profited greatly from expanded and continued support for VFP) But whatever VFP's merits, or MS's moral shortcomings - the technical side of .net and the critical mass of MS resources and developers using it indicates to me I can make some money with it. My mantra for the last 20 years has been "I've made a lot more money off of Microsoft than they've ever made off of me" so I'm still cool with it <bg>
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>Well, that's one way to look at it and I can relate to it, but there's also the cost to the customer, which I take into account, too.
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>I had heard of StrataFrame and looked at it awhile back. I thought I remembered a link to VFP and saw that there was a very big link, with MicroFour having been a VFP develper. So no wonder you like it and feel comfortable with the data handling - it's coming from a VFP world.
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>I should clarify that I might work with .NET simply because I might not have a choice. If an important client wants to move to it, I might not have a choice. If I did, StrataFrame looks very capable. But my choice would be to use something besides .NET. In fact, I'm putting "a bug" in my clients' ears about considering Linux, OpenOffice, etc.

I'm not sure the greatest way to evaluate a development platform is that it is "not microsoft". I think the nature of our business is that it is uncertain and things will change. I don't see more security looming in other development areas.

I don't know anything about Linux as all my clients are running Windows. I love Open Office and use it myself in preference to Office. I like SQL Server as a backend, though I'm not a DBA by a long-shot but I am very impressed with what SQL Express can do for free (hey, that price is almost as good as DBFs) and how easily I can manage it over a VPN. MySQL or PostGres may do wonderful things too, but I doubt the price is better than SQLExpress <s> .

The thing I think I'm enjoying the most about .NET is just the sheer mass of people out there banging on it, to extend the IDE, to write books and articles, to put up websites, to have support forums. Fun to be part of a growing community again. And fun to be so ignorant I can learn so many new things every day. I think what killed VFP for me wasn't MS but ADD <bg>

I sat on the sidelines through lots of VS/.NET growth waiting for tool builders to move it up to a higher level. Wanted somebody to handle the big weakness - data handling. Thought the Microfour guys did it in a way I could understand. So far so good. I did the same thing going from FPW to VFP 6.0 with Visual FoxExpress and always thought it was one of the best (and most profitable) business decisions I ever made.