Hi Craig,

Fox was a niche product, even when it was bought by Microsoft. In '93 a department of a Fortune 50 company hired me to write a sub-accounting system in a niche language, because there was no hope for it being done by the IT department using mainstream tools. They were very happy with the result (written in FoxPro for Windows 2.6).

Labeling products (e.g., as "niche") is like labeling people: an interesting assertion, but irrelevant until specifics are discussed.

True, there are companies who prefer teams of programmers doing what a few developers can do with the right tools. In my own experience in dealing with a few large international firms, I have encountered no pushback about platform: they care that it works as advertised. My own experience in working with toolsets is that products (like FoxInCloud and Lianja and others) can be many times more productive than toolsets designed for masses of programmers.

So long as you understand and convey that "niche" can be an appellation denoting high value -- McDonald's being mainstream, Shake Shack being niche, for example -- I think you are accurate in using that term. If you mean it to convey disparagement, on the other hand, the evidence of Fox itself, and the productivity it brought to business software development, argues against your intention.

best regards,

Hank



>I prefer to recommend moving to a mainstream solution, not another niche product that is difficult to sell to customers.
>
>>Craig,
>>
>>I appreciate your balanced and thoughtful answer.
>>
>>We do agree that the VFP apps will have to be rewritten some day down the road; we also agree that VFP is a frozen tech and some other new techs are more powerful, easier to use, etc. no doubt about that, just on-going progress as usual.
>>
>>In order to reduce the risks and gain benefits earlier, FoxInCloud brings continuity into this process, reduce the disruption as much as possible: make one evolution at a time, at a pace that business experts can sustain (many VFP devs. come from a business perspective, not from a IT perspective), with quick and manageable benefits.
>>
>>It would be great if we could setup some sort of cooperation with people like you (knowing both VFP and alternative technologies).
>>