Tom,

>>. Every week, Microsoft is losing loyal customers forced to chose between the language they love and their immediate survival.

Does this make sense?

>
>Mike;
>
>Only if you believe in a free market economy!
>
>There are laws in our nation that protects the weak from the strong but that does not apply here. The German philosopher Nietzsche, advanced a theory of the “Oberman” – the superman. Part of that was “laws are made by the weak to protect them from the strong”! So, all that you have to do is have a law past requiring you to get your way – simple!
>
>Tom

Highly recommend a couple of books by Thomas Sowell. "The Vision of the Annointed" and "Knowledge & Decisions" (I think that's the correct title.

Very enlightening reading.

In "Knowledge & Decisions" Dr. Sowell essentially compares 'top down' (command) economies as intrinsically inferior for one simple reason; that have fewer eyes and brains looking at a product than the market does. Hence any truly 'free' market will always benefit the consumer. What was the proces of VFP on the black market? US$1.50. Now, that certainly doesn't answer the intellectual property rights issue but a truly free market apparently dictates that VFP should sell for a lot less that it currently does. <g>

In California the 'so called' deregulation was nothing of the sort. Retail proces were surely held static but wholesale proces were not. So, gas shortage equals higher cost with no means of recovery. They (the regulators) should have deregulated both wholesale and retail procing, not just one. Most people are being fed a load of crap from the media on this and I'd say precious few even know about the wholsale issues.

Now, this is why I like de-coupling VFP from some of the other products. It gives it a better chance to live or die on its own. What I find disturbing is that so many people who make their living with this tool are so quick to abandon it or start their 'Chicken Little' routine where the sky is falling! <g> Apparently these folks have no faith in the very product they use nor the company that sells it to them. Self fullfilling prophecy time perhaps?