Walter,

>There is not a word about compiling to the CLR, it only states that the languages will be able to take advantage of the .NET framework.

This link will clarify that Fujitsu is targeting the CLR/MSIL with their COBOL compiler:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?URL=/library/techart/PDC_cobol.htm

>VFP can take advantage of the .NET framework, but only can't compile to the CLR. The advantages and disadvantages of this are (at least to me) unclear.

Correct, the CLR is one of the many aspects of .NET Framework that VFP7 will not feature. VFP7, however, will be able to call into the .NET framework through the COM Interop layer, and be called from the framework in the same manner. We will NOT be able to instantiate abstract classes based on CLR, but will be able to instantiate concrete classes.