>>>>
>>>>There is not much left to say, isn't it?
>>>>Redmont was the last try. Now I try something else. The SERVOY idea seems not to bad for its scalability to the front end back end. If you show a customer the integration on its PC and in the same moment on his rotten fruit he will be impressed. Believe me.
>>>>O.K. we will not get it as cheap as the FOX. But otoh price and licensing modell of the fox rise not much interest in a company that is develpoing it, especially if the comp owns better cows. This I can understand.
>>>
>>>I would have gladly paid licencing fees for FoxPro databases! If they were to provide better FoxPro databases!. Like erase 2gb limit,
>>>make it more robust, limit the ways to write into it so that mythical 'corruption' indeed never happens etc. To bad this was not considered and instead we got worst outcome ;-/ (VFP dropped all together)
>>
>
>>That is called SQL Server. You can still write VFP apps using it and eventually port them to a different front end if needed.
>
>Perfectly aware of that point, but that is not applicable to everybody. If scale of business / data is such that it requires MSSQL (or mySQL, FireBird etc ) then yes by all means. Application would get a bit slower then straight Fox but that would be ok. Problem is
>that once you deploy full size database many of realities change ;

Why would it be slower?

Unless you are only using small databases exclusively on a local machine, SQL will likely move data faster. When you start working with databases of significant size, SQL will move data faster unless you are running a SQL server with very limited resources.

>
>If you are inhouse IT mgr / developer (my case)
>- Application architecture. K-Boom! Almost total rewrite is necessary.

Not if you wrote your applications using modern architecture.

>If you have set of huge legacy apps scattered across different offices you can simply forget it.

>- Can you deploy and maintain for instance 14-15 full size databases without having to hire extra full time admin(s) and/or programmers ?

Certainly.

>K-Boom! With or without paying for database licenses themselves (even with MySql/Firebird) costs my become prohibitive.

SQLExpress handles multiple 10Gig databases and is free (and fast and secure and extremely reliable and includes reporting services).

>- Time factor. How quickly can you develop / implement solutions migrate data etc. What do you do with limited ventures
>that might last 3-4 years only? System that is prone to frequent changes ?

Same thing you would do with VFP.

>Do you develop/deploy custom state of art NET solution with MS-SQL behind or ...

I do. I've done many very large VFP/SQL solutions as well (haven't used dbfs since the '90s).

>etc
>
>* * *
>
>If you are small software shop or contractor (your case) fine if you are hitting government / large corporates but what if
>your target are small2medium business;
>- Can you deploy one app + 1 database to mom&pop (SME) size of business without ever having to touch it. (You or anybody else)
>- If business is of some substance (5-50 people) - Can their budget absorb additional yearly costs + your fees on top of it ?
>etc
>(I am out of those shoes, so I dunno today's problems but I am sure there are more)
>
>
>Point being; Things are not black & white. There is not one shoe size that fits it all. My impression is that right now mainstream promoted technologies are about 2-3 shoe sizes bigger then average foot. My take is that everybody is in pain one way or another, it is just that nobody complains loud enough. Will see how long it will all last.
>For now I am perfectly fine with my beloved brown-orange tennis shoes. They feel so good! ;) Will not change them unless I get equally comfortable new ones.
>
>Cheers :)