Yes it's still in use. It has not been replaced.

Yes it could be replaced by other technologies today - SQL Server immediately comes to mind. But this app ain't broke so nobody is going to fix it. Only 2-3 days of maintenance have been billed since it was written. Y2K fixes amounted to 1/2 day of billable time. At the time the app was written, SQL Server would choke at 20 gig so an alternative solution had to be found.

Every piece of software has evolved since that app was written. VFP, VB, SQL Server, you name it. And look at the technologies that have come out since then - XML, .NET, and so on.

At the time the Eurotunnel app was written, the client came to a practitioner (me) to provide a solution to a problem. It was written and the rest is history.

What people fail to realize is that applications are not written by software tools. The magic application generator has never appeared despite predictions every year in industry trades of new and better development tools. Applications are written by developers, architected by free thinkers, scoped by people with vision.

VFP is a great tool in the hands of someone who is creative since it allows the software author to be imaginative. He can chose to design a framework, develop custom interfaces and manipulate data to provide information to the end user. The ultimate goal is to build knowledge; the application is merely a conduit.

So do other tools exist? Yes. Are they as good as or better than VFP? It depends.

The practitioner makes the difference.


>>I wrote the Eurotunnel app. Thanks for the comments.
>>
>
>Knowing that. Is it still in use? I have not seen any info on it since the Devcon presentation about it and the Advisor article.
>
>I usually get the answer that it's a dated reference when I refer to it as proof that VFP can scale, and they say they are sure it's been replaced by something else.