Mike,

>>Mike, your last question, "Can you prove that the threat does not exist?" is essentially impossible to answer as you are asking John to prove a negative.
>
>He did say that the threat does not exist in his previous post. He should be able to defend why it wouldn't be a threat.

Well, that's an opinion, as was your reply. <g> Personally, I think that the moon is made of green cheese.. < bg >

IOW, I understand both of your positions. Each needs a bit more support perhaps.

>
>>Your point about the expense of SQL is well taken but I could counter that with the general lack of knowledge on how best to develop a VFP application - particularly with only the OLE DB driver.
>
>Good point. I think that by releasing the provider for free, FoxPro (the database, not the tool) will probably come under the radar of more decision makers and researchers as a very econmic solution. Wether or not this will lead to materialzation of enough resources for developers trying this is hard for me to predict.

Well, as I mentioned, I would more than likely want to release the driver, but I recognize MSFT's absolute right not to. Around here we call that "The Rule of 51"; that is, he who has 51% of the stock makes all the rules. <g> Since MSFT wholly owns VFP they can do anything they want with it. As such (and I think this is John's position) I have no argument with them - on that level.

Their reasoning on why they took the position they took remains theirs to reveal. Perhaps by releasing the driver their support expenses would go up without corresponding revenues? *shrug* Anyone's guess at this juncture...