>Hi everyone.
>
>In my free time <g> I use to be a professor at the local university. This year we are giving to students a course intitled "Client-Server Software Development", an optative course of IT Engineering career. We have sixty students, averaged 24 y.o. Several of them asked me about the possibility to learn Visual Foxpro. In fact, the course is biased: 50% wants Delphi, others wants FoxPro. As course responsable, I cannot have biased opinions, in spite the fact I have ten years with Fox products and they give me plenty of satisfactions. Of course, I want to teach VFP, but for instance my support staff develops in Delphi, so we have a little problem. The students are now looking for a wider point of view prior to make a decision. This decision could affect their professional performance as well, provided they will finish the career next year.
>
>Any ideas? Any URL with interesting information about comparisons with other front end development tools? Ant ethical implicancies in this matter? Any thoughts about experiencies with Delphi when compared to VFP? Any information about Borland's future?


From what you've written, Carlos, it appears that you are fluent in both VFP and Delphi. Here is a solution: Teach Client Server stratigies using both tools, assuming the students have access to Student Versions of VFP or can afford the full license cost. Ethical considerations: Pirating is not an option.

For Delphi, use Kylix on Linux. Kylix and Delphi 6 are essentially identical. You can download Kylix Open Edition for free from the Borland site. Also, there are a set of database drivers from zeos that are free at http://www.bigblu.de/zeos/eng/index.html. Delphi 6 and Kylix can cross compile code if Borland's CLX widget set is used, with only a couple of compiler definitions required to be set. For a backend try PostgreSQL. It is an industrial strength RDBMS and it's pgsql language is similar to Oracle, and in some situations identical. At http://www.postgresql.org is a jump off point to a language of your choice.

Borland isn't going down anytime soon, and MS hasn't made it safely through the courts yet. Judging from the results of their last two appeals, in a previously favorable appeals court, some sort of punishment will, more than likely, be handed down. Best case mode: a fine of a couple billion dollars, which would be a mere hand-slap. Worst Case mode: dissolution of the company into an independent OS company and one or two application companies. What will actually happen to MS or Borland depends on who you talk to at any given time.
I'll wager it will be a hand-slap. Another issue is if the injunction against XP takes place and puts MS dipping into their $30B cash reserve. My guess is that it won't go anywhere.
JLK

Nebraska Dept of Revenue