>>>Dear all,
>>>
>>>Now that the .Net dust has settled a bit, we know that VFP is not going to be able to run on top of CLR. I was thinking that maybe that MS could just strip out support for macro subsitution from VFP. Since the release of Visual .Net is still at lease 6 months out some work can still be done. Other languages like cobol, Effiel and others are going to support CLR why not VFP? I can live without Macro subsitution if that is in the way of CLR support. Does anyone support my idea? Thanks.
>>>
>>>Regards,
>>>Kueh.
>>
>>It is often requested to drop macro substitution. You won't gain much. There are many other areas I'd rather see the Fox team work on before attempting to remove macro substitution.
>
>Along these lines, if macro substitution wouldn't work with CLR, then would named expressions like USE (lcTable)?


Trey,

Hard to tell. The problem here is that the 'internals' of a product like VFP are so tied to the past (for good or bad) that removing something like macro substitution would affect everything and IMO at that point you might as well redo everything. Named expresions would surely fall into this area.

If that were to happen then what would be Microsoft's incentive to not just fold everyting into VB?

I happen to think, after using the Fox product line almost exclusively now for some 14 years, that at some point it's going to cross that mythical line where maintaining older legacy applications will account for more business than creating new applications. Fortunately, with folks like Randy Brown, Gene Goldhammer, Calvin Hsia, Robert Green, Ricardo Wenger and the rest of the gang at Microsoft each new day opens new opportunities as they are extending the product into areas that will allow us to continue to offer new solutions for our clients. IOW, I do not think we've reached that mythical line and each day it move further away - as they are adding new features/capabilities.

Contrary to those promoting "VB-Only" or other reactionary viewpoints I think the future's pretty bright. If MSFT doesn't add the kind of functionality that folks think is absolutely .NET-necessary then someone like a Rick Strahl will.

Personally I'd just as soon let the other products test these new waters, gain a little experience and re-tool VFP based on that experience. Seems smarter to me.

Best,

DD