Ah the big question: which is preferable? Ok, here are my PERSONAL opinions (and limited to my personal experience of course!):

I have to agree with you that since I am so much more comfortable with VFP (been using it since the FoxBase+ days), I will always prefer to work with VFP. VFP wins head over heals on client/server environments, data-driven apps, and specifically data-bound controls. However, as we all know there are some drawbacks to data-bound controls and that is where Delphi surpasses VFP in ease of use.

Also, I recently set up a SOAP/WSDL client app in 15 minutes in Delphi 6 (amazing) due to the new web services components.. Just dropped the controls on the form and filled in the properties. That along with Delphi's internet control components make designing web apps so much simpler than in VFP.

Let's not forget the lower overhead on Delphi apps too. The app runs faster and forms load faster than in VFP. Also cross-platform development as well as multiple data-source access is simpler in Delphi.

I guess (to me) the biggest drawback to Delphi is the Pascal language. Yuck! I prefer the VFP language over Delphi and always will. Especially when traipsing through objects--it is definitely easier in VFP. Also, naming standards is different so switching between the two is a real PITA. If Pascal would just get rid of those required semi-colons at the end of each command line and change their object references to match those of VFP! Then I would be happy...

My dream development environment would be VFP with Delphi's additional controls added to it!