>>>><snip>
>>>>>There's never been a tool like VFP.
>>>>
>>>>No, that is not correct. I am sure there are others development platforms which I am not aware of but certainly WinDev does everything that VFP does, better than VFP in almost all cases, and then x100 more things ... easily. And, it is does them in a very similar way - so much so that I believe the roots of both products were all probably the same xBase model. Any claim VFP had to being unique has not been valid for very many years, certainly since the last 10+ releases of WinDev which would be back to version 10 or 12 or so ... at least.
>>>>
>>>>Disclaimer: Not promoting WInDev - I have zero interest in that. Just stating the facts. I imagine there are other dev tools as well but cannot know them all of course.
>>>
>>>I will reiterate my statement. There's never been a tool like VFP. A one-time less than 20 MB install and it provides all of the functionality VFP does on a target machine. The ability to run ad-hoc commands in even the run-time version. You won't find another tool like it anywhere. You can still buy it new today from Microsoft for less than the cost of WinDev (through MSDN). Windows-only however... but that doesn't seem to be too much of an issue. Every company I've ever done business with uses Windows for their office / user machines.
>>>
>>>The free version, WinDev Express, is downloading presently. A 1.74GB download.
>>
>>Hi Rick,
>>
>>To compare VFP9 from 10+ years ago to WinDev today is like comparing a VW Golf to a Ferrari. Yes they both drive and get from point A to point B. But then there's a whole lot else as well. In our VFP apps (which we still have several of and in use) we use maybe 10 to 15 external 3rd party libraries. In WinDev and WebDev we need nothing at all from any 3rd party vendor, nothing. The suite of controls and tools offered in WinDev is extremely extensive. The built-in functionality is extremely extensive. And best of all, you can almost convert a VFP app to a WinDev app line-by-line - they are that similar. A VFP programmer can read WinDev code more or less straight off the bat. But, whatever, each to his own and each to whatever tool does the job they want doing!
>
>Out of curiosity: Is distribution of executable royalty free, regardless how many users on the client's network, or does the client need to purchase licenses? In the price list it does not mention those details, at least I have not found it.

Your apps can be distributed royalty free. If you use the built in database (similar to VFP but more powerful) that is also free. The built in database can run as stand-alone mode (like VFP) or in client-server mode which is the safest mode. You can also connect to other databases if you like i.e. MS SQL.

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