>Greetings to all,
>
>I have been given the green light to proceed with building a modern version of our FPD2.6 business software and I would like to weigh your opinions and input before going too far.
>
>This will be a very full featured application encompassing receiving, barcode inventory, storage, dispatch/scheduling, pickup/delivery, work orders, invoicing, statements...Reports via print, email, fax. I want to have a barebones program running in six weeks (receiving, inventory, pickup/delivery, and invoicing). I am the only developer on the project and it is in house. I will be able to use the existing computational code and data structures for the most part.
>
>It will be built in VFP6 for use on 15 to 20 PII400 Win98 workstations. The database server is a PII400 with 800+mb of RAM, running Win2k and has SQL Server installed but currently unused. After 7 years the current database and program is less than 1gb. At the current rate of growth of the business and new repeat customers, I could see the database and program combined hitting 2gb in 3 years or so.
>
>With the background in place, my questions are:
>
>1) Distribute .exe to the desktops or run from the server?

I always prefer to distribute .EXE to the workstations. It makes the maintenance easier. The Launcher program (you can find several of them in Downloads section) allows to automatically distribute the new EXE version to the workstations without kicking all users from the application.

>2) .apps and .prgs with the VFP6.exe on the server or an app.exe on the server?

You should install only VFP runtimes on the workstations.

>3) What would I gain by using SQL Server? Is there a migration tool for the vfp dbc?

There is an Upsizing Wizard. It depends of your needs. If you want the security and to store all data (which may exceed 2GB) in one data table you might want to put it to SQL Server. But you should consider the cost of it as you will need the appropriate licences and probably might need the database administrator.

If security is not an issue you may develop it using VFP only. You just need to split your data between several tables. See "The Ultimate Power & Speed of VFP" by Val Matison at:
http://advisor.com/Articles.nsf/aid/MATIV02
I myself have a FoxPro app handling about 10 GB of data (and growing) using these methods.

>4) Other options I am not aware of? (VFP is YAL, my background is LAMP development and relatively new to that).

You definitely will need a commercial VFP framework to develop this application. It will take care of many things for you.