>A trajectory exactly like VFP's.
>
>That is horrible alright. =(
>
>I am (or was) seriously considering going the open-source way - probably Java with MySQL, JSP... bec of the ff points/questions:
>
>1. Was thinking maybe this could also be a "value-add" for prospective clients in that no license fees required for OS and stuff...
>2. Anything C# can do, Java can do as well (this true claim?)
>3. Will open source go away or be quashed dead by M$ (just like what it is doing to VFP)
>
>Currently, the apps I am making are VFP with MySQL. Just figured maybe if VFP will go the way of the dinosaurs, then replace it with Java.

If your apps are to run only on MS OSs, you may not need to change at all. Even if new MS OSs break VFP in subtle ways, it will be possible for some time to come to run older OSs in VMs. Or, you could run your apps through Terminal Services.

If you want to go non-MS, there are almost too many choices. You can gets lots of info by Googling things like "python vs java" or "python frameworks vs java frameworks".

Another thing to look at is what are the major non-MS companies using?

According to a rather old blog entry ( http://panela.blog-city.com/python_at_google_greg_stein__sdforum.htm ) the official languages at Google are C++, Java and Python. Google has put a huge effort into optimizing JavaScript and is optimizing Python as well.

It might also be worth investigating what languages the various cloud computing offerings will support e.g. Amazon EC2.