>The problem that exists is that MS is a HUGE organization and it is difficult to make sure everyone reads the messages. As for the "grand pubah for SQL Server"...he is > >among the uneducated.

Craig -

(First - just so you know ... NOBODY hopes you are absolutly right and that VFP ends up being around forever more than I.)

Now .. I hear you, but the fact is that this guy (and probably countless others) is out there saying this.

IT DOES NOT MATTER that he is wrong! All that matters is that he is a MS Big Whig, that he is giving presentations on the future of MS Database technologies to thousands and thousands of IS managers, developers, and IT executives in the biggest cities in the country, here in Philly, in New York, in DC, Boston, Baltimore, etc, etc, etc, ... feeding them free lunch and donuts, giving them T-shirts, showing them big multi-media presentations with lot's of "oooohh ahhhhh" factor ... and that they are going to listen to him and be swayed by his opinions, by what tools are used (or not) in the demos and presentations, and by offhand comments like he gave me while eating lunch.

The problem is that while we sit and answer questions on the UT and occasionally argue and get mad about the "VFP is dead" threads ... people like this ... MS people nonetheless ... are out there by the hundreds and thousands spreading just the opposite of what we profess to be the truth. The damage is being done continually! As with Betamax and the Macintosh, and any number of other technologies and products ... having a better product and a sizable group of hardcore fanatics does not mean a darn thing ... It is all about critical mass ... and marketing and PUBLIC OPINION is what creates that - the informal and implied as well as the formal..

I am reminded of the line from the recent Bill Gates/Steve jobs USA? movie ... when Jobs realizes Gates has "stolen" Apple's GUI and says rather smuggly to Gates ... "That's OK ... our stuff is better .. we have better stuff ..." To which Gates replies simply ... "Steve .. it doesn't matter..."

$100 billion dollars later (last I heard) it's hard to argue with him ...

Ken