>2) Someone with the Alpha release confirms that there is a new compile option in VFP related to CLR/MSIL

Interesting.

>Assumptions from a couple of reporters, that are not based on official Microsoft Press Releases, and do not quote any facts to back up including VFP in the list of CLR languages, mean nothing.

The link was an offical Microsoft Press Release.

>There may be VERY GOOD reasons for not porting VFP to a CLR-compatible version, (such as no support in CLR for local data access and macro expansion). Without seeing the specs for CLR and Microsoft Intermediate Language (MSIL), I cannot comment further on that angle. Taken in that context, the MS emphasis on middle-tier and Web Services for VFP7 makes tons of sense.

Question for you: How long will it take this paradigm shift to be stable enough for implimentation? One year? Two years? How long will it take the majority of companies to begin even thinking about using it? Three years? Five Years?

Once again, I don't see why we should stress about this.