Ok, I didn't want to go off on a rant or anything, but here it comes.

Jeez - I can't remember the last time I was THIS MUCH misunderstood. I was trying to put a stop to a rumor that had already started in this thread (see my quotes of JVP and Ken.) It needed to be done publicly, otherwise the people that had already been exposed to it might spread it further.

So, for the record everyone: The theory that VFP8 won't ship if there are not at least X copies of VFP7 sold is totally false. Ken said so. Right Ken? (Boy I sure hope so.)

Therefore, John, all of your postings that hinge on "Unless enough people upgrade to 7, version 8 is a moot point" are incorrect. Note that I said "that hinge on." You may have posted something that is supported by many points, and still stands when you negate the one being discussed. So given Ken's statement, you may just want to post a revised version. Or you may just want to let it go. I don't really care what you do, I just want to make sure Joe UT reader is aware of the soundness of your current statements.

As a VFP developer, I have a vested interest in the longevity of VFP. I have made the personal decision to put all of my career eggs in the VFP basket. If it falls, I am screwed. For now I am confident in the VFP basket, so I am content with the location of my eggs. I would like to know what things I can do to ensure their comfort. The number one reason I got involved in the VFP MCP exams was to promote VFP. (Impressing people with an acronym was around #5.) If I could buy stock in just VFP, I would. Other things I do to support VFP: present at my local user group, WNL (which could use a shot in the arm), online support like the wiki and VFP chat room, 'donated' the big VFP7 box so that it would be on display at a users group, I am looking into being a VFP friendly non-profit ISP, etc. Those all promote VFP to other VFPers. (They also promote personal growth too.) I am assuming that a strong VFP community will help the longevity of VFP. It would be nice if MS would give me some direction in how to best use my resources, but I understand that such direction is a combination of a) nebulous, and b) confidential. There are plenty of people bashing their heads in over the "Hey MS, push VFP more" cause, so I will avoid that headache. My point is: If you are looking for how to further the longevity, use your own good judgment.

Here is something else everyone can do: calm down a bit. Try and keep the posts regarding personal emotions to a minimum. It squelches the facts, and I don't really care how anyone feels about what anyone else said. I think this thread has hit the 100 mark; Is there really that much content here? I know some of it is due to misunderstandings of my post. I apologize, and in the future will try to be more clear. Now if everyone else would follow suit, the signal to noise ratio might get to the point where I am willing to wade around in the UT pool more often. While we are on the subject, let me remind everyone that poor use of pronouns is a typical cause of misunderstanding. I see it over and over. So there is another point: make sure that when you feel the urge to use a pronoun that it is obvious to the audience what noun you are referring to. And when you read a pronoun, make sure you know what noun it is referring to.

I think that MS can benefit from our input, but only if it is well thought out. Dumping a ton of text and assuming MS can extract the wisdom from it is probably a poor use of everyone's time. I think our time would be better spent posting half as much, and using the extra time to review our posts before hitting send.

And change the stated topic when you change the topic. Oh yea, we can't do that here. Hmm, someone should do something about that.

This is just my opinion, I am sure someone thinks I am wrong.