> >
> >Today. But what about tomorrow when we will have our customers
> demand us
> things that can be done easily in VB and not in VFP? And this for no
> other
> reason than somebody somewhere decided that the future lies with VB
> and not
> with VFP.
>
> What 'things' will these customers demand?

Well for example:

To be able to present their price list, stock levels in real time on the
web, as an extraction from their inventory management tables.
Allow collaboration between different companies (EDI).
To be able to integrate their different documents made in Office.
Go client/server in the case of multiple office operations.

As far as I can see, you can (will probably be able to) do all this in VFP, but as the focus passes from data intensive to communication intensive
applications, you will find that (my hypothesis) you will have a
disadvantage in VFP, because there will be less drivers, libraries,
support etc. available.

> Please let me know exactly what you mean. Has business really changed so much because computers have changed? In other words, what can't VFP do for a typical business application?

Yes. Business changes as a consequence of technological evolution.
Database technology did change business, and so does (will) the
Internet. The problem with VFP is that it will not evolve as fast as
VB.

To those who think we should not say these things because they are like self
fulfilling evils, I say that we owe it to this user group to discuss
this topic of crucial importance freely and in all honesty. If my
arguments are wrong or not convincing, I apologize, if my opinion is not
that of the majority, well for that I do not apologize.

The choice of a language is a very important decision. In fact as
programmers, it is probably the only strategic decision (defined as
decisions that influence the next 5 years) that we have to take. It takes a lot of time to be fluent in a language, to know what works and what does not, which is the condition to deliver robust solution.

I'm old enough to have seen main frame programmers laugh at PC's, Cobol
programmers laugh at Pascal, Pascal programmers laugh at Clipper,
Clipper programmers laugh at Foxpro, Foxpro programmers ... I've seen this RPG programmer a few years ago, who at 50 had to start programming in Paradox.
If you asked him, RPG _was_ much more powerful than Paradox :).

Much as 'you are what you eat', you deliver (sell) what you program in.

Marc.