Here is the situation:

I have a system developed in FoxPro 2.5 DOS. It has 80 screens, 240
reports, 72 databases, the largest of which has approximately 55,00 records. It has been on ongoing development for the last 6 years. We are at the point now where we are going to run the code thru the Windows FoxPro 2.6a tranporter and then run the system in Visual FoxPro 6.0 (this is the easiest way since we have already put in $200,00 worth of work and don't want to have to re-write all the screens and reports directly in Visual if we don't have to). This system will be running on an NT network with 9 workstations.

Lately, my client has been hearing from other sources, that SQL Server 7.0 (no mention as to what the front end would be) would be a better alternative for his system for lots of reasons according to his sources: more stable environment, less costly changes, the fact that they have been telling my client that Visual FoxPro will be dead within 2 years. They have quoted him about $40,000 to re-do the system, which is, in my opinion, way off base. There are some very, very intricate procedures/programming logic in the system. I can't for the life see how this could be a better alternative for him.

My question(s) for you is, do you think Visual is going to be dead in 2 years, do you think that Visual running 2.6 Windows code will be stable enough to work, what is your opinion on using SQL Server with these size databases, what are the ongoing support/other costs involved with SQL Server that maybe my client does not realize will be there in the future and any other opinions.

Thanks for time on this.

REC Computer Systems