Hi Cindy..

Thanks for the toughtful response. See my in-line comments below..

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When VFP is mentioned in places where Microsoft makes general announcements (MSDN Flash, Microsoft website front page, latest additions on MSDN Downloads page) then non-VFPers, including management types, see that there is VFP "activity" such as new releases or updates. The alternative is that they see nothing and are not even reminded that VFP exists.
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A good point. Unless there is activity, the outside world would never get the chance to see anything regarding the product.

I buy this as a valid premise. Let's move onto the proposed conclusions..


>They may conclude that:

By "they", I presume you mean those people in the outside world...

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1. Microsoft cares enough about the product that they are producing new versions or updates.

2. Microsoft cares enough about the product that they made space to mention it in "public places."

3. VFP is not totally dead or useless or "legacy" becuase there is evidence of activity in the VFP area.
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To all three of these, unless the person in the outside world uses the product or is actively considering the product, does it matter. In other words, just because there is activity, does that mean it will be acted upon. I get the sense that if people believe VFP is mentioned in all of these places, somehow, VFP will take hold and the market will grow. To this conclusion, I label it as invalid because:

1. It is counter to MS goal of getting companies into .NET
2. It would make for an automatic reversal of a 5+ year trend when there is no
evidence to support such a reversal exists.

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Whether these announcements influence these managers in their decisionmaking is unknown, but they can't say that Microsoft is ignoring the product if they see it mentioned regularly.
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So at best, it is a moral victory of sorts. Remember, if there was a commitment to grow the market, there would be feature ads in all the trade rags.

You know what they say about moral victories????

There are no moral victories...

Thanks for confirming things for me. I have long suspected as much...

Regards,