Just when I feel I've got my eyeballs (not my entire head mind you;)) above water -
Info World from October 19, 1998 page 34 has 2 articles of related interest to us.

The first article (Attributes bridges models of C++, COM) talks about this new Attributes feature being added to the next version of C++ in order to aide development of COM+ objects.

I noticed mention that currently C++ developers "write alot of code to make COM components work together." I'm curious if anyone can comment how this compares to VFP and coding required to make COM objects work together? Also, anybody have any scoop on VFP and COM+?

Also, there is some general Visual Studio news from the M$ Professional Developers Conference (PDC) in this article worth reading.

Now the second article on this page made me do a double take! "Access Users get back-end option" What's the deal with this -> MSDE(M$ Data Engine): a new SQL compatible data engine ?!?! Anybody got any comments or insights on this new beast entering the database arena?

And if anybody out there attended the M$ PDC - any other related news or comments would be much appreciated.