Rick,

I'll agree with what you have said in relation to the current version of VFP. However, this does not mean that VFP won't get better at the COM stuff.

VFP has one major advantage over VB for middle tier development, it is fully object oriented providing forvery robust and easily enhanced middle tier development. In the current version, VFP has some problems with COM and DCOM, but it could be fixed.

The question I pose is this, should MS spend time and development dollars enhancing aspects of VFP that other tools do as well or better, or should MS invest in developing the aspects of VFP that would make a premier middle tier development tool?

We are all talking future here, granted there are alot of systems that aren't N-Tier and there will be more of them. They can be developed with the current tools. If VFP stays stagnent and remains the one tool in VS that competes with every other tool, then its death is eminent. If VFP changes into a specialized tool, then it will become necessary to use other tools as well to build applications.