I would agree with you, in general, 100%. If you are ignorant of other tools, you not only hurt yourself but you do a disservice to your clients or employer. In my case, my focus on "fun things to learn" the last several months has been some of the deeper, darker aspects of SQL Server 7.0, including MSDE, and the Office object model and VBA/VBS.

>Maybe in some zen sort of way, I am at an advantage here. I have only been writing VFP code for about 1.5 years. I feel fluent, but not expert, so I tend to use more general constructs and techniques. I read books and follow mailing lists where the developers use smalltalk, java and C++, and I often try to apply the knowledge and techniques in VFP, even though it not necessarily the "VFP" way to do it.

Not a bad point. Thinking outside the VFP box is important. I have been working with flavors of Fox for 14 years but I have tried hard not to pigeonhole myself. Although my direction on this may be a bit different: To me, VFP is an outstanding launching point for learning database development that can be *easily* applied and scaled to SQL Server, Oracle, and Sybase.