Scott,

You have a very legitimate point concerning entry-level VFP programmers. You're probably right that not many college grads are learning VFP (I don't know this for certain, just hypothesizing). Corporate management would much rather pay for an entry-level position than have to fork out big bucks for us more experienced, long-time developers/programmers.

That's one reason that I do consulting/contract programming, I'm more likely to get hired for a relatively short-term project on a contract-basis because most companies would not be able to pay me what I would consider optimal as a full-time employee (plus anyway, I like the flexibility of working for myself ... but that's another topic :-))

Bonnie

>Hi Bonnie,
>I actually posted that position because I accepted a promotion to another division within PB. The group I'm leaving now has two open slots for VFP programmers. We lost a guy last fall to the division I'm moving to. That's why I was able to relate the story of the management perceptions. I have also gotten this response from our current manager who joined the group just over a year ago, but after seeing how the system was set up and the flexibility it gave us he changed his toon.
>I'm not saying that VFP is dead. I believe it could have a great future, but the fact is that MS isn't promoting it to a broad audience and this limits the college grads willing to work with it. The lack of an entry level pool to draw from like VB has also drives the management decision to jump ship. I can't fault them for that. Do you agree with this?
>
>Scott Fitzgerald
>
>
>
>>Hi Scott,
>>
>>Didn't I just see an ad posted somewhere for VFP programmers for Pitney Bowes? I guess you didn't find anybody, eh? The only reason that I even noticed the ad is because I'm originally from CT (now living in CA, so I'm not really interested in the job). There's obviously still people programming in VFP and jobs are out there for us, so it's not dead. It's interesting how MS handles the hype for VFP tho ... does anybody else notice a similarity between this and the way IBM (non)promoted OS/2 way back when?
>>
>>Bonnie
>>
>>>Hi John,
>>>I just wanted to toss in some experiences I have just run into. I'm switching divisions in my company. The new group I'm going to has people with FoxPro/VFP experience, but we are not being allowed to use the tool. We can write our own utilities for personal use, but anything going to an end user has to be written in Access and VB. Demos have been put together showing that VFP outperforms Access for the types of applications that they are writing, but these have been ignored. The mindset of management is that VB is the way to go because MS does not stand by the VFP product. The lack of any real advertising in comparison fuels this argument. Finally, because VB is promoted so heavily, we can no longer find any experienced VFP programmers for full time work, or graduates who are willing to work with the language. The lack of bodies willing to work with VFP is another driving force to eliminate it as a viable tool in my workplace.
>>>
>>>Do you see this trend out in your area? I'm in CT.
>>>
>>>Scott Fitzgerald