>>Well folks, I hate to fan the "FoxPro is dead" thread, but nevertheless, I'm reporting what I've been told. Note that in the following, I'm not saying Fox is dead but trying to provide some insight to what VFP is thought of within the sales and consulting arms of MSFT.
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>>I have a computer consultant friend of mine who I've known for roughly six years or so. He used to be a FoxPro developer and knew it rather well. We talk about once a week -- I consider him a reliable source. Recently (perhaps today?) he went on a second interview with Microsoft Consulting (I won't say where to protect the guilty). He's a pretty intelligent guy and has good experience with a broad selection of products -- I think he'd be an excellent hire for MSFT Consulting.
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>>He spoke to a recruiter regarding a final interview. The recruiter is someone within MSFT Consulting. The recruiter went over his experience -- VB, VC++, Access, Delphi, SQL Server, Oracle, Sybase and others, and asked pertinent questions.
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>>The recruiter asked if he had any other experience. He mentioned his FoxPro and VFP experience on his resume. The recruiter told him specifically "Don't mention it in your interview." I repeat -- the recruiter told him specifically "Don't mention it in your interview."
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>>The implication was obvious to both -- if you want a job within the arm of MSFT Consulting, don't mention VFP. It's not used and is actively discouraged.
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>>Other things mentioned -- he has a friend who joined MSFT Consulting -- a person whom he worked with at his current job, has told him that it is common knowledge within MSFT Consulting that VFP will not be in the next major release of Visual Studio.
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>>He also "reported" that it is also common knowledge that MSFT is not actively working on any sort of major release of VFP. Now I know that's not true but I'm just telling you what's going around the water coolers at MSFT sales offices and MSFT Consulting.
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>Do you report everything you've been told?
>
>"computer consultant friend that used to be a FoxPro developer" and "recruiter" is all there is to know about this preposterous rumor. You being a VFP current should know better than to post this here. Maybe if you go to the VB forums with the same c**p you'll get people's consensus.


Put on your asbestos apron, Mr. Flores, `cause you're about to be flamed!

For as long as the "FoxPro is dead" rumours have been floating around, people have been ready to dismiss them because some pointy-haired manager heard from his brother's doctor's dentist's accountant's second cousin that Microsoft isn't betting the farm on the future of Visual FoxPro. Those kind of rumours are just speculation, conjecture, and bald-faced lies.

What Mr. Anderson is trying to do is relay second-hand information from someone who has actually spoken with a representative of Microsoft. Granted, the person in question is with the consulting arm, and not directly involved with the day-to-day decisions of what stays and what leaves Visual Studio, but they are still closer to these decision-makers than most of us. For such a person to flat-out say to omit a prospective employee's FoxPro experience from their resume is to convey the general feeling which is coming from Microsoft headquarters.

As for the water-cooler talk and what the friend of a friend who works at Microsoft Consulting might "know", then that should probably be taken with a grain of salt. For that matter, so should anything which does not explicitly come from Bill Gates, Robert Green, or anyone who works directly for the Visual Studio product development team.

Mr. Anderson is not trying to stir up the pot, and he himself states that some of what he hears is contrary to what we ourselves "know." Then again, what do we really know that is not tainted to a great degree by our own hopes and fears for Visual FoxPro? See my above paragraph for a list of those whose opinions are beyond reproach.

To belittle Mr. Anderson by accusing him of spreading a "preposterous rumor" and dismissing his information as crap (see, I'm not afraid to use the word) is insulting in the extreme, not to mention highly unprofessional to an on-line colleague. to further suggest that he post this message on the VB forum in the hopes of seeking credibility is insulting to VB developers as well. I doubt that any of the VB developers genuinely want their product of choice to be propped up at the expense of another time-tested Microsoft product.

Unless you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that what Mr. Anderson's friend told him is a lie, and unless you yourself are privy to these water-cooler conferences regarding Microsoft Consulting's attitudes toward VFP, I would suggest you refrain from dismissing Mr. Anderson's comments as heresay and crap. As difficult as it may be for us to accept, he might just be right.



To all others who read this message,
I apologize for subjecting you to this response to Mr. Flores' ill-manered and condescending message. Hopefully, you were not offended by either his message or my reply, and perhaps you may even agree wih some of what I've written. If so, contact anyone you know at Microsoft Consulting or the Visual Studio development team, relay to them what has been written here by Mr. Anderson, and try to get confirmation or denial. Let's take this out of the realm of unsubstantiated rumour and into the black-and-white world of fact or fiction.