Gerald;

Good points Gerard. I wish we could make a difference and perhaps we can. I do not wish to extinguish any positive ideas. Anything is worth an attempt and you never know what impact an idea will have unless you try it.

Tom



>MS said that if we buy fox, they will continue to build it.
>
>Of course, I dont think its really a possibility to do what I said in the previous message.
>But at least, that adress the problem in some way.
>
>You must see this proposition like the first idea on the table in a brainstorming.
>Or may be the second, as the first one was the "open source" proposition.
>
>Its more productive to propose ideas than add another page to the never ending story we see each day on the thread...
>
>
>>Gerald;
>>
>>I think that Microsoft should market its own product. It elects not to so there is a message for some of us. If we pay for the marketing (a few million dollars to start will do for a few seconds of television airtime) there is no guarantee that Microsoft will be there to support the product for any period of time. Microsoft could make a business decision today that states:, “Visual FoxPro is no more as of today”!
>>
>>Tom
>>
>>>Why???
>>>
>>>The real problem with the current state of VFP was the lack of marketing outside the VFP developper community. Do you really think that the open source will be the solution for this problem?
>>>
>>>If the developper base continue to shrink like a plum under the sun, the fox will soon be an endangered specie. Why dont you offer something to help expand the VFP developper community?
>>>
>>>Based on the fact that MS will not market VFP outside the current VFP customer base, a counter offensive from us can be to do the marketing for MS.
>>>
>>>I dont know, if every developper put 100$ in a basket, may be we can buy some air time during the next Superbowl?
>>>
>>>We can take the word from JVP and go to .NET.
>>>.OR. We can continue with VFP and cross our arms until the fox fall belly up.
>>>.OR. We can try to expand the fox developer base to keep our favorite dev tool alive.
>>>
>>>Its up to us...
>>>
>>>But, open source is not an option IMO ...
>>>
>>>>MS should Open Source VFP. They already have SQL Sever, MSDE, Access, ect... They don't need VFP anymore. I doubt it's a drop in the revenue bucket. VFP just doesn't fit that well, hence it dropped out of VS. It's proper place is by it self, where it is now, but out from under the constraints of MS's agenda.
>>>>Don't get me wrong I think MS has done a great job with VFP, but I think for it to really move forward and to put to bed once and for all the fate of FoxPro, Open Source is the answer.