I've always been a big fan of prototyping, which is a form of Agile development. Basically I viewed it as my way of saying "Here's what I heard you say you needed" in a relatively short time with a lot of "this is what would happen here". It gives the customer an opportunity to actually see what the application would look like.

It never ceased to amaze me how many 'new' requirements would come out of the first prototype session, generally prefaced with "Oh, we forgot to mention it needed to do ....." and it would usually be something major. Never mind we had spent a weeks worth of time in design/requirements meetings.


>There is another wise phrase about "the paralysis of analysis." Probably the hottest trend in software development the past few years has been agile development, sometimes called iterative development. The objective is to release a system in small, fast chunks. I am not wise enough to know whether that's really the answer but I do know Agile was a reaction to development teams disappearing for months or years before users had anything they could run.
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>>Bet when considering the value of analysis always remember the words of the wise old rabbi ( Menachim Bazian ) "The quicker you get to the keyboard the longer the app will take."
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>>>I could possibly analyze the performance of my application on the 3 current customers (since I have remote access to the servers). But the reality of my work/life is that I never have time to stop and think or analyze; always next feature to write or a bug to fix or a sale to make. I think I remember the joking message that goes something like "I am so behind in everything; I am afraid I will never die"
>>>Thank you.
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>>>>But also remember the design of most VFP/Sql apps I've seen (or written) demand very little of server other than basic CRUD. 1 gig of RAM for that kind of backend processing is not a bottleneck unless you have already exceed the recommended number of *simultaneous* users.
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>>>>>And I understand it is limited to 10 GB size database and certain number of simultaneous users (don't know the number though).
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>>>>>>Express is limited to a single CPU and 1 Gig RAM.
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>>>>>>>Thank you very much for all your input. Very helpful. I do have currently 3 customers using my VFP with SQL Server. Two of them using SQL Server 2008, I know it is not Express but not sure what exactly. The 3rd one is using SQL Server 2005 Express. Not one of the current customers complained about the speed. But it was my perception that Express will have some bottle necks (I am probably mistaken). The key, of course, is how many users they will have. I sent them an email and hopefully this will determine if Express is an option. I don't mind saving them money if they don't suffer performance.
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