>Michael,
>
>I like to use both VFP and Delphi. I use VFP for my data/business Apps and Delphi mostly for building GUI ActiveX controls or low-level stuff that VFP can't do or won't do well. It would be really nice if we could build FLL files using Delphi rather than C/C++, since the development time is so much quicker in Delphi and it DOES NOT rely upon MFC. Plus it builds very tight code which is very optimized and you get all the source code with the Pro version and above. VFP can't be beat for speed of development for database applications. Delphi doesn't have a native database language like VFP, nor does it have as good of a Form Designer. It is more like using VB or C++, etc. However, Delphi which is essentially an Object Oriented Pascal is very clean and much quicker to code in than C++.
>
>I am currently using Delphi 6 and look forward to getting version 7. I haven't found a lot of details about it yet but the Pro version upgrade comes with Kylix 3. However, there are a LOT of Delphi related support sites and source code sites. Many more than VFP. Delphi is very big in Europe and Russia.
>
>However, if you haven't done any low-level coding like assembler or C++, you will find a steeper learning curve than VFP. Additionally, you will always find yourself looking for equivilants to simple commands like ASC() to get an ASCII value for a character. Something I spent a couple of hours on the other night. As far as Linux desktop applications yet I think it will be a while before we've got the equivilant of VFP on Linux. Now clone VFP using Delphi/Kylix and now your talking. But that would take many thousands of man hours. But if we had several thousand developers all working together, I guess we could get it done in a couple of hours! :-)

I've been waiting for a VFP Clone in Linux for several years. As front and backend capabilities have progressed I've come to the conclusion that building VFP Look&Feel front to xBase, or to xBased enhanced with a DBC clone, is not a good idea. In fact, it is stepping backwards in time. With a front end GUI RAD like Kylix or KDevelop talking to a more capable OOP backend like PostgreSQL 7.3+ via QT 3.0 widgets, you achieve better functionality. PostgreSQL has PSQL as a command line interface, if one doesn't want to use pgaccess, so the TCL is still available.