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Maybe because of my dutch origin, I've got tremendous trouble on figuring out what your message means.
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Ok...


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I get the idea that we all should learn something else because there is no future in VFP ? I find that hard to believe.
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What tangible things - in the world at large - can you point to that supports your premise? Things may be fine - right now - in your corner of the world. But, in the vast majority of the other areas, a downward trend exists.

So, apart from the way you *feel* - what tangible things can you point to?

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VFP 8 isn't out yet and because of its fast dataengine it is the most logical choice for data intensive and highly data driven applications. I don't see .NET change that.
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There is another fast local data-engine...it is called MSDE and it ships with VFP... Seriously, from YOUR perspective - VFP may be the logical choice. The other 99.999999999% of the world would disagree with you.

The mistake you make, like many in the vocal minority is that you super-impose your feelings for how the rest of the world *should* feel and make decisions from that. And, you subordinate the business practicalities to the supposed technical superior features of the product.


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I see however, the ever ongoing integration of other components. Large parts of .NET can be used from within VFP.
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There is COM Interop and I wrote an article on this very topic for CODE. But, if VFP is the tool you claim it to be, there will be no need to bail out to augment it with .NET - right???

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Crystal Reports can be called from VFP, SQL-server can be used very easy from within VFP.
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True - but how in a material sense does this or will this make a difference?

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IOW I see that in the future our applications more and more consist of a variaty of components.
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This has been the norm and will continue to be so. If anything, .NET will solve a lot of the headaches we deal with now. FWIW, I don't see the world of component based development changing. The only shift I see is from COM to .NET..

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Personally I don't see any reason to jump the VB.NET plane, If i'm going to need .NET features (I doubt I will in the near future), I might look at C# first.
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This statement may illustrate how much understanding about .NET you may not have. The key focus is the framework - not the language. Whether you use VB or C# - your applications will be - at least right now - 80-90% the same since you primarily deal with the framework. In other words, the power comes from the framework - not a language. Right now, a .NET language does little more than implement the framework. I suspect that as time goes on, each language will mature and have a distinct character. I think VB .NET will be the initial primary benefactor of this - especially since YAG is the new language evangalist..

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More important I don't see the need to invest time in something that might be the future of developping applications. .NET might be fantastic for web services, I personally don't see a high demand for this kind of applications yet, ... and I doubt if there ever will.
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I agree and disagree here. On one hand, I don't see Web Services being the big thing that everybody will go to. I do see Web Services as an important way to augment applications. If you develop ASP apps or have to use DCOM - you will have an immediate need for web services. If you need to expose data to the web, again web services is a great way to go. Having said all this, I think MS is underplaying how much Win32 app development will be done in .NET. To me, windows forms and the framework is the BIG story.

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Like many people, I can't invest time in learning things that I might need in the future. I only can invest time in things I need right now (Like CR 8.5, SQL-server 2000, WINAPI, COM/DCOM/COM++, etc). To me, these things are more important than learning the .NET framework right now because these technologies have proven themselves and do not go anywhere anytime soon.
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You could, you simply choose not to.....Milking your cash cows without an eye to the future is bad planning....


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If one time VFP might not be suitable anymore, I'll then decide what to do. Maybe at that stage there is a new technology replacing all the .NET hype: "Well did I save me some time by ignoring that hype !"
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You are a wait and see person.. If that is good for you - great. For the most part, it is not a good strategy to employ...


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The future will tell: There are still programmers programming in COBOL and making lots of money. We'll cross the bridge if we come to it. It does not make sense to invest time in things you do not want to use anytime soon.
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The future will always tell... Watch what happens after the 2nd week of February..< bg >...

One last point... I respect your right to have the feelings you have and to make the decisions you feel are best for YOUR career. For the most part, I think most people would disagree with your reasoning - which is based more on your world view as opposed to an objective analysis of what is going on in the world.

I see your position as the extreme part of the vocal minority.

Thanks for sharing..