(snip)
>Hi Erik, this isn't directed toward you, it's directed to everyone in this thread.
>
>Microsoft isn't interested in advertising Foxpro. Microsoft wants everyone needing development tools and databases to buy SQL Server and Visual Studio.
>
>If people are not aware of Foxpro's power, then they will buy what Microsoft recommends, which is Visual Studio and SQL Server, namely Visual Basic and SQL Server. It seems that Microsoft views Foxpro as a product that satisfies a niche market. Microsoft probably will never put alot of marketing behind Foxpro as long as SQL Server is in the forefront. Just think of all the companies who have bought SQL Server who really don't need it. If Microsoft advertises the strengths of Foxpro, then they will start loosing sQL Server and Visual Basic sales. It's not going to happen.

Hi Tim,

I think you're probably right that the possibility of competing with SQL Server is what most assume is behind Microsoft's lack of enthusiasm for VFP. Not that anyone has ever reported hearing this from Microsoft, but it's natural for people to speculate about underlying motivations of bizarre behavior, and your explanation has come to be the accepted wisdom.

While I agree that Microsoft is pretty clearly not interested in marketing FoxPro, I would not be so quick to assume that they couldn't be persuaded to give VFP a little more of a fair shot. If MS wholeheartedly believed that VFP is losing them money, the logical thing to do would be to kill it outright. They may not be marketing FoxPro, but its availability is not a secret either.

It also seems clear that there is within MS a faction of sincere VFP supporters, facing a powerful faction of VFP detractors. Both factions have some influence with MS upper management, but it's not clear that the ultimate decision makers are entirely closed to the possiblity of allowing VFP to grow. If they had made their decision they would either kill it or market it, but Microsoft's self-contradictory behavior suggests otherwise. Of course there is the possibility of some deliberate deception, but that wouldn't be wise, and I'm not convinced that this is the explanation.

The point to keep in mind is that the notion that VFP is going to lose money by taking away sales from SQL Server is really a bogus argument (http://fox.wikis.com/wc.dll?Wiki~OpenLetterBogusCounterArguments#BogusArgument01). An argument that must be respected, I grant you, because this is a widely held perception. But it's an argument that doesn't stand up to closer scrutiny. VFP is a great lead-in to selling SQL Server, and Microsoft isn't going to prosper by selling the wrong solution to a customer who is better suited to VFP.

Mike