>>PMFJI, but grid lines are certainly visible and valuable to the user. I would not categorize them with primary key generation, which is invisible to the user.
>
>Just because the features provide a visual output towards users it doesn't mean the feature is for the end users. In VFP7, I use the DYnamicBackcolor property. A bit complex, and un-intuitive. In VFP8, I will use the SelectRowColor propertry or whatever its called, it will be simpler to use as a developer. My users will see zero difference in functionality.
>

True, but what about apps developed by persons with less skill and/or time than you? End-users of those developers are the ones who would see benefit.


>>Service Packs are intended to make the product what it was originally intended to be: a technical and sales success.
>
>Service Packs are intended to make a product useable and stable. There is a very big differnce. The reality of developing and deploying features for free was outlined in my last message.

I'm not going to rant at you, and I have no axe to grind. If Microsoft had never before used Service Packs except to fix bugs, I would agree with you totally. But they have previously slipped new features into SP's, so the cat's out of the bag.

I don't suggest that Microsoft should give away features for free just to appease the whiners. I do believe, however, that slipstreaming features can be part of a sound business strategy to evolve a product in order to stimulate sales. In fact, this practice is completely consistent with "software as a service", which Microsoft is apparently moving toward.

Successful marketing is a game of improving perceptions and creating excitement. And people get excited about free stuff. Using relatively inexpensive giveaways to increase customer awareness and excitement is a time-tested marketing tactic. To argue that "giveaways" benefit only the consumer and not the producer would be to look at things through the bean-counters' eyes. T-shirt giveaways cost money. What's the benefit to the producer? The wearers become walking billboards, and may even promote the product through word of mouth. So the "giveaway" is not charity, it's a transaction because it benefits both sides.

I'd hate for Service Packs to become so narrowly defined that they ignore their marketing potential altogether. Conversely, I don't want to see bug fixes ignored for the purpose of adding new features in a SP. As always in software development, it's a balancing act.