>Don't be skeptical - check the popularity and numbers of developers involved with the tools on Codeplex like VFPX, VFPCharts (GDI+),activevfp, and FoxyPreviewer. It all works remarkably well, not a kludge at all (more FUD!)..
And many of those developers, especially the VFPX people, are old friends, but as to numbers ... I think the stat about VFP 9 sales Ken gave in his blog and the number of people I've known over 20 years in the Fox community who no longer use it and conference attendance and publication and support sites ... well, you know. Don't mean it to be FUD, it is just my perception that it is a very very small pond vis a vis the other platforms discussed ( and one that has lost a *lot* of its best and brightest to other technologies )
But I have nothing but best wishes for those who still find the Fox path rewarding. I do, however, think that many are not moving on because of FUD - not toward Fox but the perception of .NET (and other technologies) that was so popular for so long here and elsewhere as many were very scared and trying to justify not leaving their comfort zone.
But everyone makes their own choices based on their own experiences and circumstances and there are lots of paths to success.
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>>I'm more skeptical about the Foxpro part. Fox will never (AFAIK) be capable of non-GDI graphics, integrate with the OS in a way that is more than a kludge, or seriously improve what is an extremely dated IDE. And, more to the point, whatever combination of "improvements" one puts together under those circumstances will have a "developer community" of about 10 people, no support, and no one with any kind of financial incentive to develop new tools or improvements to make that model sustainable. Can't see how that makes development more fun, but maybe that's just me. I got so tired of working in an increasingly marginalized niche product for so many years that it is fun to be playing with toys a *lot* of people use and improve. (as I am sure that is part of the attraction of working in Java, perl or php )
Charles Hankey
Though a good deal is too strange to be believed, nothing is too strange to have happened.
- Thomas Hardy
Half the harm that is done in this world is due to people who want to feel important. They don't mean to do harm-- but the harm does not interest them. Or they do not see it, or they justify it because they are absorbed in the endless struggle to think well of themselves.
-- T. S. Eliot
Democracy is two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for lunch.
Liberty is a well-armed sheep contesting the vote.
- Ben Franklin
Pardon him, Theodotus. He is a barbarian, and thinks that the customs of his tribe and island are the laws of nature.
