I don't mind direct and blunt communication but I usually try to be diplomatic about it. But right now, diplomacy is out the window.

Hey Microsoft, you've known for a long time that there is a major bug (apparently in W2K, as opposed to VFP) where VFP tables and metadata (screens and reports) are getting hosed when Windows 2000 has a bad shut down. You know this has something to do with some new write-caching strategy used in Windows 2000 that was not present in prior versions of NT.

SET RAGE OFF

I could bring myself to understand why tables and screens would have a high risk of being hosed if NT blue-screened while I had these files open.

But it is sad .... I mean it is !#^?>@%$ sad that FoxPro work that is done and VFP closed down 50 minutes earlier (before a blue-screen) would hose any tables and screens that I had written to.

SET RAGE OFF

That's right! VFP closed down! Not just 10 seconds earlier. Not just 30 seconds earlier. Not even just 1 or 2 minutes earlier. But almost a full hour earlier. I'm done with VFP and on to other things and a bad shutdown destroys development work.

This kind of delayed destruction has happened to me more than once. It's not just an isolated incident. And it's happening with many other developers.

SET RAGE OFF

And don't lecture me about the blue-screen or stability issues, or backups. %@##@*#%$)#$ this is NT we're talking about. Nobody's perfect. And NT has no problem going blue now and then. All it takes is a bad driver.

But man .... when it's the middle of the day and I'm not even using FoxPro... and it's been shut down for almost an hour... and a Microsoft bug slams everything I did in the morning... I AM PO'd $#*!@^%$(!&*$

SET RAGE OFF

I've got backups. But unless you know something I don't know, most of us don't do backups every 5 minutes to protect our work from Microsoft.

SET RAGE OFF

You give us some of the best tools on the market for providing solutions to customers. (Thank you) But this problem is a direct threat to developer productivity. It's scary as hell to think that at any moment if NT craps out on me, it's going to take down something I did hours ago.

SET RAGE OFF

Here's a developer request from the field...

FIX THIS PROBLEM!


And another thing, my 'SET RAGE OFF' isn't working. What the $@%!&#%^ is up with that?

Sincerely,
Guy Pardoe