If we needed any ammunition to counter the arguments that Fox is dead, all we need to do is point to VFP's biggest xBase rival, Visual dBase. The following is an edited message from the PRNewswire service, with my comments afterward:

Inprise Corporation (formerly known as Borland) today announced an exclusive international licensing agreement with KSoft, Inc., one of the world's leading Xbase specialists, to further develop, support and market Visual dBASE, the PC database development environment for Microsoft Windows. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

...Mike Tossy, Inprise's director of database strategy and business development: "This agreement allows our borland.com division to focus on our strategic family of rapid application development tools -- Delphi, C++Builder, JBuilder and our embedded database server, InterBase. At the same time, we are confident that KSoft will continue to enhance and improve Visual dBASE, the industry's leading Xbase database."

With the new agreement, KSoft ( http://www.dbase2000.com ) assumes the future development, maintenance and marketing for Visual dBASE and DOS versions of dBASE internationally. KSoft will also have a joint marketing relationship with borland.com, Inprise's new online community for the software development community.

...Alan Katz, president of KSoft, Inc.: "As dBASE developers ourselves, we fully intend to maintain and enhance the dBASE legacy of interactive, easy-to-learn, easy-to-use high-level development tools. We see ourselves as representatives of a dedicated dBASE community, totally committed to creating quality state-of-the-art products in partnership with our developers and users.... On behalf of the dBASE developer community, we thank Inprise for delivering this much-loved product into the hands of its users."

Visual dBASE 7 Professional and the Visual dBASE 7 Client/Server Suite are the Windows 95 & Windows NT versions of the industry's leading Xbase database development environment....

...John Staub, president of Staub & Associates, Inc.: "As a software developer whose livelihood depends on delivering quality products on time and on target, my company relies on Visual dBASE as our sole development tool. KSoft has a unique perspective on the types of tools needed by database system developers....

A nationally-recognized leader in Xbase solutions, KSoft develops and markets Visual dBASE, the best database development environment for the desktop, LAN, Internet and Intranet. KSoft was incorporated in 1995 as the successor to ApTech, Inc., the publisher of the popular Abraxas accounting suite. In recent years, KSoft has specialized in custom Windows and Web e-commerce development using Visual dBASE.


Now for my comments:

See, it can be done! KSoft started off as being a company of dBase power users. They saw their development tool of choice floundering in a sea of larger, more heavily promoted development tools, and decided to fight rather than switch. A little money (certainly less than what Microsoft would ask for VFP), a little time (as of late September, Inprise was still hyping VdBase), and voila, an xBase tool is reborn. When mesages appear which propose buying the VFP technology from Microsoft, let's not be so quick to dismiss them.

Of course, I have to take issue with some of their comments. I wasn't aware that VdBase was the "the industry's leading Xbase database." If it is (and I highly doubt that it is), then we are in worse shape then I thought. I don't know how they are measuring this. If they include DOS installations of dBase III and IV while it was owned by Ashton-Tate, then maybe the numbers would add up. However, when it comes to a Windows-based OOP-type database development tool which uses xCase as the core language, I think VFP is the hands-down winner.

As for the comments or Mr. Staub, "my company relies on Visual dBASE as our sole development tool. KSoft has a unique perspective on the types of tools needed by database system developers...", again, I disagree. His company may choose to use visual dBase as thier sole development tool, but it is by no means the only such tool available to him. As for KSoft having a unique perspective, I think I could get a few thousand of you to give him your perspective.

Of course, this is a press release, the cheapest form of advertising there is. Companies are supposed to put their own spin on things, and a certain amount of scepticism must be in mind when reading their boasts. But it digress...

The bottom line is that the VFP community should not forget that Visual FoxPro has competition from a company other than Microsoft. While we're busy fighting the VB-vs-VFP battle, Visual dBase could quietly walk in and take our market share. Let's remember all of the dBase and Clipper apps out there which are screaming for a visual upgrade. With Visual dBase under new ownership, we have a well-painted target to aim for.

Bill