>>hat is not as safe as having required VPN to access a webserver on an intranet plus it would cost quite a bit more money too - it's not just the terminal server licenses you have to consider but the windows servers you need as well. I can pull a RDP password out of a pc in about 2 seconds. We do not allow any users or doctors offices to access anything here unless it's via VPN on our intranet if they are remote. The VPN clients are setup so when they connect to the VPN, it kills all other internet activity on their machine other than to the intranet and servers and such they've been given permissions to access.

The comparison had been to companies like Amazon that need to expose internet servers to the wild. For healthcare providers I'd expect that VPN goes without saying, though if anything I see clients movng AWAY from the concept that that Mac, Android and any sort of other device should be able to use business apps natively inside the VPN. It's either Windows clients or RDS IME.

As for whataboutism re 2 seconds to install Nirsoft and pull the RDS passwords: as soon as you finish, I'll spend 2 seconds pulling the stored browser credentials for your patient record portal and stored Cisco VPN passwords. Your point?

>>..except that 32 bit is going away and sooner or later you won't be able to even run a 32 bit application anymore - just wait - a version or two more of windows and that compatibility mode will disappear.

Meanwhile there's still millions of apps out there relying on 32-bit C++7. The reason MS can't move as quickly as it would like, is because customers will rebel if forced to upgrade to something that breaks the apps. The OS is the vehicle, not the journey.

>> But ..... that is not an official VFP version - and as matter of fact if MS ever wanted to be jerks about it they could bust you for breaking user or license agreements just by using it.

Since you're so knowledgeable can you please reveal what exactly you've decided I've breached?

>>and then there is the issue of VFP not being supported by Microsoft anymore. - an instant deal breaker for most big companies - especially if you're dealing with medical data.

I think my biggest client exceeds the whole of HI. Clients care about the database, especially if they're to maintain and secure it, but I can't remember them ever asking or caring about this sort of stuff- in a respectful commercial relationship and with development now typified by a tornado of Rube Goldberg options, that sort of nit picking seems obsolete these days IME. Even if they do ask, for a small fee we can commit to provide C++ exe and dll compiled to whatever C++ strikes their fancy, with C++ recognized as dependable bedrock compared to the rest of the development churn.

>> and VFP has was left behind by Microsoft.

Is that the same Microsoft that almost left the browser behind and most recently left iOS and Android behind by releasing Windows Phone? MS is no longer a magic word, but knowing they've lost the mobile client market, of course they're looking for ways to leverage their desktop and server strength. For interest, in their shoes, wouldn't you try to promote RDS to Windows servers to lock in windows-centricity while it still exists? Isn't a RDS cal almost as valuable as a Windows license?

I know you like to present others as foolish or backward, but fwiw, I was one of the first to advocate migration to web apps in those early days when Java and even isapi.dll still had teething bugs. Also an early convert to .NET. Most of our stuff was for web by the turn of the century or shortly after. And now I'm looking at desktop apps via RDS. Why do you suppose that is?