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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.
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Carl...

It is anything but a moot point. The extent that a software product stays alive can be measured by whether it profits exceed cost in a timely manner. The development cost of 7.0 is funded by the number of people who upgrade to 7.0. If MS cannot adaquately recoup its development costs, there may very well be no 8. To think otherwise means one does not have a grasp of even the simplest for-profit business concepts.

MS is not a company that gets into deficeit spending mode. (Remember MS Bob???). When something becomes a loser, it is either killed or divested. VFP is an interesting case because it is a tool that has a developer base that MS would love to transition to .Net someday.

VFP is a tool that lives within its means. Big wholesale changes cost money. If you spend the money, you need to get a return. None of the changes in 7.0 are that big - from a technical standpoint. I think great strains are made to stay within the VFP-model. With these sorts of limitations, you end up hitting the wall. Eventually, all you have is a little change here and a little change there. At best, the number of VFP developers is holding constant. I for one think that more people are leaving than staying.

I think there are a lot of Fox apps that are getting re-written in other platforms. That is a marketing number I would like to see.


My objective was to suggest a way to make 7.0 a compelling upgrade. That meant beside fixing the latest crop of bugs, you throw the loyal development community a bone or two - with new features. Some of these features, it could easily be argued should have been in the product a long time ago. Most notably, a highlighted grid row. IMO, it is more of a bug fix than a new feature. The rest of the community I think would agree.

Make no mistake... if sales of 7 are not where they need to be, there will be NO 8. I don't think MS can refute that statement. i.e., I don't think you are going to hear "Regardless of what the 7.0 sales are, there WILL be a VFP 8" That would be a derilection of duty to the stockholders of MS....