>>Microsoft is doing a presentation here in SLC in June called "Microsoft Development Tools A-Z." I will be doing the presentation on VFP and will have about 10-15 minutes. My only requirement is that I end up with a COM object at the end of the presentation. That'll take about two minutes. Any ideas on what I can do to fill the rest of the time?
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>Some tips:
>- don't use the word "legacy"

I never use VFP and legacy in the same sentence unless it's "You need to convert that legace Fox2x stuff to VFP".

>- same for "xbase"

xBase??? What's that < G >. I've been on the anti-xbase push for several years.

>- refer to it as Microsoft's "stealth weapon" or "database muscle car" or something like that


That sounds good

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>1) Create a simple (but spiffy form) that displays (for instance) a person demographic data. Have a few buttons on the form:
>- 1 brings back data from dbf file
>- the next brings back data from a SQLServer database
>- the next from a COM component
>- the next from a XML store

I'm definately gonna show something with COM and XML.

>You can have these last three sources on a remote computer. This will show the flexibility of of VFP. Alternatively you can "change one line of code" to change the functionality of the form to draw from different data sources. This shows the flexibility and scalability of solutions using VFP.

I don't know if I'll have a remote computer. I hope to have Internet access, but I don't know.

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>2) Elaborate on the proliferation of VFP frameworks to shorten the development cycle, promote reuse... and solve business problems.

I'm not sure that will be a big selling point. I need to show them something that can be done in VFP, but not VB or that VFP does better.

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>3) Show an example of inheritance in action. Change the background colour and logo of all forms, change a VFP control on all forms (like a date control) and show it ripple through the entire app.

That would definately work.

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>4. Create a table with 1 billion records in it. Query it with VFP and then a non Microsoft tool (can't bash an MS tool) and show the performance difference.

I don't think DBFs will WOW them too much, but I'll think about this one.

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>5. Describe the incredible online support for VFP. Support that (as far as I can tell) is unrivaled in both quanitity and quality.
>www.levelextreme.com
>fox.wikis.com
>www.foxforum.com
>Compuserve ....

Again, I don't think this will sell them.

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>6. The quality of VFP books. Instead of "Learn VFP in 21 days" you have books that tell you how to implement real solutions.

There are quality VB books out there...again not a selling point.