Hi Cyrus.

>>My app generates a list of addresses in a DBF file that need delivery.
>>I would like to have the list of addresses be MAPPED and sorted for optimized Route.

I understand your points about MS mapping solution and the way it was handled by their marketing depts... Something that already happened to VFP:-(

Sorry to hear as well you found no decent desktop development solution. I recently made a rapid tour of the desktop GIS world. It really looks like nobody is making money anymore on this model. The web model has drowned competition (even if some of the web GIS businesses are certainly not making money neither).

I find it pitiful that you cannot currently find a decent solution for your customers though. If you find any, do not hesitate to feed us here. I am definitely ready to purchase a decent solution too!

If I were in such a situation in 2020 with limited historical backlog, I'd possibly investigate using the open-source QGIS - really the current champ in desktop GIS - as a supporting platform, possibly with a plugin (and/or python automation) and work from that. A quick five-minutes search brought met this as an example (there are other routing tooling solutions on QGIS):
https://traveltime.com/blog/isochrone-qgis-plugin-traveltime

Why? QGIS really shines... Installation is heavy but robust and supported. I tested it among a host of alternatives and REALLY liked it:-)

Of course that way of handling your customers - in support of open-source packages - means your business model may change a bit since you will not deliver a packaged software solution but work as support service on QGIS and possibly plug-ins. No small change marketing-wise...

My two cents at the current junction (I have been working on GIS for just a few COVID-months...), Daniel