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That is the very definition of something which is said to be indisputable, as you so claim in your previous message: -"I think they either don't care or realize that what I have put out can't be disputed"-. So if you have stated that it is indeed opinion, then why come back and say it can't be disputed?
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Because opinions can't be disputed. You can dispute the basis upon which an opinion is made. And FWIW, I don't think the basis in this case can be disputed. That said, people should either work on diputing the assertion or back off. People are quick to say that I have zero hard evidence. I have some but for the most part, what I have is circumstantial. I have pointed to actual things with a reasonable amount of detail. It is not my problem if people have a difficult or impossible time disputing those things...


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It can have an impact, as someone pointed out it was used to ease the doubts of a manager that was evaluating a solution based on VFP. While it may not be a silver bullet at least it can be used this way, I suppose this can be a valuable tool for people in the consulting business. Granted this may not bring more developers to VFP but can be of help in very specific situations.
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I don't doubt for one moment that you could find cases where a manager's concerns were eased with the video. In the aggregate, will it make a material difference? I say it won't. Others will say it does. To boost my point, I simply look at what has changed? Is the world different today than before the video? No. Does the frequency of Fox ommissions remain about the same? Yes.

As far as being a valuable tool in the consulting business, I highly doubt that. One would have to get face time first. The fact is, if Fox is not even on the radar screen of languages to be considered, do you think a decision maker is going to spend time letting your go through the process of convincing him to use something he does not want to use? And, for verification, if he calls his local MS guy, do you think the local MS rep is going to tell the guy "Sure, go ahead and forget implementing .NET, just use Fox instead.." If you think this is or will happen, you are dreaming the impossible dream.



>I trust this is along the same lines than when there was no new certification exams when VFP5 came out. I believe it was said that not enough people took the VFP3 exam, so there was a larger gap between new exams. Of course this is not good for VFP as it gives fuel to the naysayers. Maybe things would have been different if more folks would have taken the VFP6 exams.
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But they didn't did they? The same folks that bitch and moan about the lack of exams are the same people that would never sit for the exams in the first place. The same people that bitch and moan about a lack of Tech Ed sessions are the same people that would not go to tech ed anyway.


>(To anyone else reading this, I want to clarify that I am not privy of inside information about VFP exams)
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I think it is fairly common knowledge that there is a wide gap between the numbers of expected test takers and actual test takers.


>>I could say something like "Offical Microsoft Course number 1609 refers to Visual FoxPro as a good tool for small to medium applications.." Which by the way, the course does say this.
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>>I could say that "The VFP session at Tech Ed in South America only had 20 or so attendees" This is also a verifiable fact.
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>>I could say something like "There was a Seattle Fox meeting about a month or two ago where a group of guys (6 or so) were talking about how tough the Fox job market is.." This really happend because Rod was the speaker and he told me what happened. It is indeed a fact..
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>>I can go on an on with things I see and put it all together to come up with an opinion on where I see things and how the rest of the world has come to its conlusion as far as VFP is concerned. Let me tell you this...if I were patently wrong on something, you can bet that Ken would come up here and correct me. To date, that has not happened. So if you are looking for somebody on the inside, that is about as inside as you can get.
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>I don't think Ken's absence from these threads amounts to a validation of your opinions by him.
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Hold on...You are bypassing verifiable observations on my part without comment. Do you have a comment? Perhaps they are observations and facts that cannot be disputed.

I don't think Ken's absense from these threads is a validation of what I am saying. However, I would bet the ranch and the dog that if you asked him off line if whether my observations are accurate and I have taken a reasonable interpretation of events, he would probably say there is merit to what I have said. For sure, the issue about upgrades is dead on. He said as much on the UT a few months ago.




>My opinion about the marketplace is that the impact of the downturn has affected all developers in the same proportion. If there used to be 30 VB positions and 3 VFP positions there are now 10 VB vs 1 VFP. But there was also a larger pool of VB developers compared to VFP, so now that there are more folks looking for the same positions, who's got it worse?
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Your kidding me, right???? I think the ratio is probably 100 VB jobs to 1 VFP job. As a quick non-scientific test, I went to monster.com. Here are the search phrases and stats for the entire country for the Information Technology Category:

foxpro - 53
visual foxpro - 35
vfp - 1

basic - 1856
visual basic - 1302
vb - 1282

here they are for dice, for all categories and the entire country:

foxpro - 47
visual foxpro - 36
vfp - 9

basic - 2218
visual basic - 1168
vb - 1076

justfoxprojobs.com only had 32 entries in the database.
justvbjobs.com had 932 entries.


I have no idea what the quality/pay etc of the jobs are. All that counts is the raw number of opportunities that exist. This is about as hard evidence as you can get. There are those that would like to say and argue that VFP downturns are in the same proportion as every body else. Here is a stat for you: From about 7 years ago, Fox jobs are down about 75-95%.



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Nevertheless, it was as important to diversify your skillset and remain marketeable then as it is now. Of course the alternative to remain marketeable is by just being damn good, in which case you can beat most odds. :)
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Being good with the right tools in the box is what counts... An average VB developer has more opportuntiies than than an advanced VFP developer..