Gary, VFP 5.0a is FAR, FAR, FAR more powerful than PowerBuilder 5.0.

PowerBuilder has two flaw that really upset me, and Sybase ignores my comments
both at conferences and in direct communication with them:

1) You can not install rules at the engine level. If you do, when a
datawindow is created the rules are "copied" over; ergo, if you then
go back to the engine level and change the rules, the datawindows still
have the old rules! They have a hokey response - to resynch the
datawindows - excuse me - pure cow dookey.
To get around this I have had to write functions and call them from
the datawindows - this works every time - but I figured this out on
my own years ago. To me, this is inexcusable - and it is.

VFP does this absolutely correct. Hooray for the VFP team!

2) If you base a window upon an ancestor and then accidentally delete the
ancestor window - you are COMPLETELY hosed! And I do mean completely.
In VFP if you do this - I just did it this afternoon - VFP tells you he
can not find the class reference and THEN allows you to locate it. After
you have done so, the object is reattached to the parent class - cool!

3) You can setup views in VFP and have the view automatically update the
backend tables and columns. EVEN IF THE VIEWS ARE CONSTRUCTED FROM
multiple objects / columns. It is all done for you in VFP.

In PowerBuilder, you have to write some code to: a) repoint to the
active table, b) mark which tables are updatable, c) repeat steps
a and b for all tables/columns!!! Incredible amount of b_llsh_t!

When I bring these issues up (year after year) at user conferences, the speaker
is upset and tries to sidestep the issue.

Having said all that, it is a shame that such an ingenious design as the
DATAWINDOW is doused with gasoline and lit with a match by these design flaws
and Sybases refusal to correct them.

And Microsoft, why the heck don't they come up with 2-page ads in magazines that
non-programmers (managers) read stating these superior advantages!!!! It really
pisses me off the Microsoft has a product far superior to PowerBuilder and does
not AGGRESSIVELY market it!

Sorry to go on, but you did ask my opinion and I am hotly opinionated about
database products.

Maybe Microsoft could hire Powersoft's marketing people to market VFP. First,
they need to trash their *(&^*(&^ little product Visual Basic which is a
complete joke - I have upgraded three times (read "never again").

OK, got to get off my soapbox but these guys are right out of the book
"Atlas Shrugged" by Ayn Rand.