I don't know if what I am proposing is actually n-tier or not, or exactly client-server. I'll tackle the last piece first ... Foxpro already IS client-server: there is a piece that runs on the client and the data resides on the server. And n-tier usually involves building layers which extend upward from the data to the user interface.

I wonder if instead of using a tree as an n-tier metaphor, if I would consider perhaps branches extending outward, with "function servers" growing outward. Foxpro programs on servers could function like remote procedures, and then perform a great deal of operations on what that particular server would see as "local" data. The advantage is of course to do as much processing as possible on the machine where the data resides, and only return the result.

In the final example, it would be like Oracle in a way, that the processing occurs on the machine where the data is located. The ability to execute commands the way Foxweb executes a .FWX file would be comparable to stored procedures in Oracle.

The difference would be that one would have all the flexibility of the Foxpro environment... kind of like a new product called "Foxpro Server" hee hee.

...Art