>It is indefensible because the perceived threats that allegedly exist if the provider is freely distributed don't exist.

Well, thats just one argument in the debate. If it were a bogus argument, it doesn't mean the position is indefensible.

And FWIW, I think that its a pretty sound argument. For Web Services and Web Sites, the number of servers hosting and serving data these days is growing, and will continue to grow majorly for quite a while. Microsoft's solution is a SQL Server licsense for unlimited users. Whats that up to, $20,000 per CPU? Using VFP data is signficantly cheaper. The database itself is free of licensing, and the tool that gives you access to teh data costs about $500.

My opinion is that if MS gives away access to the database (as you are suggesting) sales of VFP and SQL licenses are threatened. Can you prove that the threat does not exist?