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So this comment and thinking is actually harmful to the efforts of myself and the FoxPro commununity trying to convince developers to upgrade to VFP 7.0 now because of all the great new features and because it is a more stable version than any previous release.
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I regret you feel that way and that you have chosen to express your feelings this way.

Let me get right to heart of my point... Unless enough people upgrade to 7, version 8 is a moot point. The idea behind my suggestion is to ENSURE people upgrade to 7, thereby ensuring a version 8.



The issues and comments are enumerated as follows:

I. Whether service packs are for bug fixes only...

I seem to recall that SP 3 of VFP 6 had quite a few new features. Specifically, the multi-threaded DLL and the Session Class; both significant features. With this history in mind, it is a falsehood to contend that service packs were/are for bug fixes only.

II. Whether a grid row highlight should have already been in the product...

Highlighting the grid row was in Fox 2.x. It should have been in 3.0. It absolutely should have been in 5.0. Not being in 6.0 was a travesty. Such a simple thing, and often requested as a feature should have been in the product long ago. One could easily argue that a bug existed since the feature, the way it was implemented, was useless. Therefore, even if SP's were only for bugs, adding the grid row highlight would be proper using your analysis.

Some personal thoughts now...

Ken, please don't get defensive about these comments. This is a marathon, not a sprint. As for being detrimental to to your efforts, I take exception to that. Your response to me undercuts your efforts much more so. If I do say so myself, I have done a lot of good things for this product and this community. And yes, I have made mistakes a long the way. I am human after all.

As for whether 7.0 is a compelling upgrade, the answer is not universally yes. I have no compelling reason to tell my clients to upgrade. FWIW, I still primiarily use 6.0. Remember Ken, there are two sides to upgrading software: the economic and technical sides. When the technical side substantially outweighs the economic side of the equation, it becomes a compelling reason. As for stability, I find no problems with 6.0 stability. From an economic standpoint, I have a hard time making the argument. If the development staff is relatively new and inexperienced, 7.0 may very well be a good way to go. Let's not forget that for existing apps, there is a new runtime that would have to be distributed. There is a cost to that...

With respect to IntelliSense, that feature is nice if you are a developer. It in no way impacts the end-user. If you are an experienced developer, chances are, you will want to turn that feature off. Quite frankley, there are behaviors in the IntelliSense feature I do not like.

Highlighting the grid row or multi-line headers are features that impact the end-user experience. These go a long way to making VFP a compelling upgrade for people. I can live without IntelliSense. If an app would greatly benefit from some of these other features, upgrading becomes a non-issue.

Looking back at history... 18 months ago, I suggested, damn near pleaded with Robert and Ricardo to remove VFP from the VS box. At first, it was resisted, then, the idea was embraced. Not too long ago, I vigiously advocated that MS not spend the resources to make a .Net version of VFP. I was essentially alone on both of these issues. Now, VFP is out of Visual Studio and free from the issues of .Net. And for that, I think my ideas have helped to ensure the success of the product.

In summary, I know what it takes to market this product!

As always, I am ready, willing, and able to help you however I can. As for whether my suggestions undercut your efforts, I simply reject that. I have given too much to warrant that sort of disrepect. Perhaps we disagree on tactics - that is fine. But please...do not call the integrity and motivation of my ideas into question....

To insinuate that my suggestion is harmful to your efforts or the efforts of the VFP team as a whole is ridiculous, off base, and out of line.



Regards,