>>For most development, VFP has no clear advantage over anything else on the >>market. Yes, if you need to thrash through data, mung it, etc, VFP has an >>advantage. But what percentage of development does that represent? 1%, 10%.

Not sure about what your doing, but I'm constantly being bombardied with requests for extremmely complex validations, queries and data formatting for presentation. I need a very flexible local data engine to meet these demands! ADO might be fine for distributed apps, but for the kind of stuff I'm doing, I feel it leaves a lot to be desired. I don't see myself getting away from FAT client front ends any time soon.

I think MS is so wrapped up in this thin client\distributed app world that they are forgetting about the real world needs of the average office worker. The need for highly functional, rohbust systems to manage company data and automate business processes is not going to go away. I totally agree with Rick Strahl when he predicted developers will be coming back to the desktop and start thinking of the internet as just another network. IMO, VFP is king in this scenario!

>>Many folks need to be clued in that VFP has lost its divine advantage over data.

You just said in the paragraph above that VFP has an advantage with respect to data. Make up your mind.

Charlie