Jeff, Jim, et al.

Regardless of how MS markets or does not market VFP - how does that affect the work you do with existing cleints - or small to medium size companies that you may take on as clients?

Microsft's marketing tactics have nothing to do with the solutions I can deliver with VFP. VFP will never achieve parity with VB with regard to VB nor will it takes VB's position in the Windows DNA architecture. Book it. It is a mortal lock. I will bet the ranch and the dog on it.

Personally, I don't care. Why? Because I - and many others have prepared ourselves for what has been common knowledge for 2+ years. If you attended the 93 Devcon in Orlando - 5 years ago - you would have seen glimpses of this coming. Certainly at that time - most folks thought Fox would be playing a bigger role. I attribute VFP's demise to the death of Xbase. Once that standards committee closed down - that was it.

Yes, you, I, and everybody else knows VFP goes way beyond Xbase. But, some marketing folks a few years ago did not see things that way. As such, they totally screwed everything up. Despite the best efforts of the VFP team and new marketing folks - and believe me when I tell you that a lot of work has been put into turning the tide - much of the damage has been done - and cannot be undone. You could say that it has been a self-fulfilling prophecy. In any case, what's done is done. The course is not going to change.

Jim refers to the whole solution. That can be delivered today. What comes in the VFP box is pretty powerful. If you use nothing else, you can build some very impressive applications. The beauty is that other tools can integrate in a more easier fashion than ever before. Is it always seamless?? No. Then again, nobody promised you or I a fair deal in all of this. The way I look at it, any benefits I get accrue to the asset portion of the balance sheet - not the liability side.

People will gripe regardless - and for totally valid reasons as well. VFP should hold a more prominent place in VS and the development world at large. But it does not. As Walter Cronkite said - "Thats the way it is...." You know the old saying - "If coulda, woulda, shoulda where beans and rice - I could feed the world..."

What is myopic? Folks not seeing the writing on the wall....