Good morning!,

>>Al,
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>>So, what's the proper response, in your mind, to this news?
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>I have no idea and couldn't care less. Everyone will have their own response; you've seen mine. Pure speculation, as I pointed out.

Well, for me there's a difference between professionals discussing their "tools of the trade", and the hand-wringers. I prefer the former, not the latter, as I suppose you do as well.

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>>I've seen what seems to me to be an awful lot of energy wasted on emotional responses to what is an unknown future at best.
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>We are all in bed with the 800 lb. MS gorilla. IMO, examination of what that gorilla might do is hardly unwarranted or wasteful.

Right, but that 800 lb gorrilla is pretty much going to do what it wants regardless. That's why so much of the discussion ("VFP - Dead Man Walking" for instance) seems to often be a lot of wasted energy. I totally agree that we should be aware of what's going on. I just don't think panic or becoming overwrought is the proper response. My making that assertion will, however, not change the fact that it will continue to happen. *bg* I accept that as a matter of course.

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>>I have little or no control over what MSFT does but a lot more over what I do. Since I'm an adult and (hopefully but not quite! *g*) mature it seems to me that the mature response is to simply be prepared for the eventualities. Nothing more, nothing less.
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>If you think beyond yourself, you start to see the value of warning other people of potential dangers and pitfalls. That's something more I'd do.

As a way of illustrating my point, it's kind of like warning man that he will stand before God to give an account for his life? *g* Sure, I agree we should think beyond ourselves, but in the case here with VFP it seems we've paced a hole in the rug, so to speak. I suppose that just like the first sentence in this paragraph some people just refuse to listen, which is kind of my point. They turn off their ears because it's not what they want to hear.

How people respond is their choice, not Microsoft's. IOW, don't blame Microsoft for what are ostensibly your (and mine) choices. What I'm saying is that I am responsible for my response, not Microsoft. I cannot control them though I might indeed influsnece them. I can choose how I respond though and for me it's keeping clear in my mind who's who and what's what.

>>Personally I think VFP will be around for a LONG TIME and that if anything happens development will cease and the product will be on MSFT's shelf until the end of time. For goodness sakes, last time I checked you could still buy MultiPlan from them. There are simply too many people who use this product.
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>I speculated "dead", not "unavailable". I'd have to say Multiplan qualifies as what I'd call a dead product.

So what.. If I can still make a good living with that product then I can buy myself enough time to learn the newest, more popular one. Granted, it's been a loooong time since anyone asked me for help on their MultiPlan spreadsheet *g* but Dave Stevenson mentioned just the other day he received a contract extension for FPU 2.6 work. Go figure...

Even if Microsoft does bring out a VB product that is really able to compete technically with FoxPro, that doesn't mean I have to stop using FoxPro or that I cannot switch either. My response is my response regardless. It seems to me that people are expressing fear of change. That is what I consider irrational, though very much human. Most people are irrational at some point in their thinking process. I'm just suggesting that all the handwringing and energy wasted on discusions like this seem, at some point, to pass that point.

Should we be aware of our environment? You bet. Should we keep up as best we are able? Yep. Should we worry? Nahh. Should we be alert and responsive? Absolutely! Should we panic. No way. We've all survived by our wits so far and I'll bet we continue do so do in the future. Actually, a part of the thrill of surviving is directly related to responding to companies like MSFT. It was just Ashton-Tate, Nantucket, or some other company in the past. Tomorrow it might be Microsoft's successor we'll be worrying about.

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>>I also wish the VB development team the best of successes, as I do for the VFP dev. team.
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>Ditto.
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>>Why would I want to use a less-than-stellar product, regardless of which one it was? VB has some very cool stuff, as does VFP. Just not the same kind of command line/window.
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>MS in particular, has an unpleasant history of decreeing the "best" technology to use, then pulling the rug out from under those who commit to it. If you want to always use "stellar" technology, you'll be switching from one product to another on an annual basis. Some programmers are good enough to be fully competent in more than one product; I don't count myself amongst them. Simply, those who wish to leverage their existing knowledge, rather than learn a lot of new stuff, will continue to use less-than-stellar products. This is a dangerous attitude in this era of rapid change, but a lot of people have it.

We are not obligated to accept Microsoft's interpretation of what is or is not "best". Last time I checked I still had the ability to make up my own mind. *g*

I too struggle with the workload but if I didn't enjoy (and thrive really) on the pressure I suppose I'd be doing something else. Now, I don't believe in the survival of the fittest nonsense (separated from morals and concepts of right and wrong), but in a purely logical scenario of survival of the fittest, and to maintain consistency with that theory, tough toodles. If you can't stay up with the pace you fall by the wayside. It's extremely brutal out there and if you adopt that philosophy there's no place for worrying about that result; you're too busy surviving yourself. Personally I think there's more to it and I quite agree with you that one should get good at their product of choice.

I figure that if MS does indeed dump VFP and/or enhance VB to the point where it can provide me the same business opportunities that VFP now does, I'll use it. Actually, I've decided just this week to begin the process of learning VB to augment my personal skill set at the same time I continue using VFP.

From the pov of development opportunities I see a bright future regardless of the particular product reigning at that point in time.

>snip<

Best regards,

DD