>For me the best of both worlds would be a compiler switch (like VC++ will reportedly have) to run in or out of the CLR.

I think you are too impressed by this feature. I've prepared a chart to demonstate this. Here are your options:

VC++ not using CLR    =  VC++
VC++ compiling in CLR =  VC++ with CLR
VB compiling in CLR   =  VB with CLR
VFP not using CLR     =  VFP
VFP compiling in CLR  =  VB with CLR

See, We already have VFP with the CLR.