Leland,
>In the mean time Dot Net is casting a giant shadow over any development language that is not part of Dot Net push. For example, if you were a CEO of a small company, would you consider buying a VB6 application, even if it exactly met your needs and was developed by some of the best minds in the computer business? Any CEO that can see beyond the end of his own nose would have doubt about purchasing a VB6 app, given that if net is successful, the entire application might need to be re-written within a couple of year in order to be compatible and supported by a Dot Net centric OS. I have written an application in VFP7 and this is my dilemma. I feel my app's market potential is somewhat limited because of the uncertainty of the Dot Net push. On the other hand, It could take year to re-write my application in Dot Net. Also, Dot Net is still relatively young and unproven, and may fail inspect of Microsoft vast resources.

I believe these can be real problems.

I want to discuss the sentence "Any CEO that can..." first.
Don't forget the other side of this coin, and one that Microsoft has never yet had to face, at least in a serious way - that many many CEOs (or CIOs or Directors of IT or whatever) have nicely functioning 'heart of the business' systems running right now in non-.NET languages/platforms. This has to be a huge obstacle for Microsoft's plans for .NET, especially considering the current economic environment. There is not only the raw costs to be considered, but also the fact that it is a gamble unlike any other they (CEOs, etc.) have had to face.

Now about your VFP7 application... in reality I would expect that its language should be a side-issue or a non-issue because it already exists and can be demonstrated to do the job. At least at this time I suggest that you get on with marketing it and see where it leads. I don't know anyone who cares what Quicken is written in, for instance, because they can see what it does and decide if that's what they need/want.

About .NET being "relatively young and unproven"... I think you are exactly correct, though I would agree that these facts are well obscured by the heavy marketing efforts being done by Microsoft. Still, I expect that the majority of CEOs/CIOs/etc. will proceed very cautiously and only 'dabble' in it for some time yet. I certainly can't see many of them committing to full rewrites of their bread-and-butter systems in the near term.

>
>There is not doubt in my mind that Microsoft is treating VB6 and VFP7 user groups unfairly as compared to the preferential treatment if affords Dot Net User Groups; however, I feel a broader approach to the problems Dot Net presents to VB6 and VFP7 programs/programmer is needed. Is there some way outside of the justice system or fundamental economic in a free economy to protect those who have invested their time, energy and money in what was only yesterday considered state of the art technology?

I wonder too. One thing is certain, though, and that is that discussions like this offer a good chance to expose/develop/consider reasonable alternatives that might prove to be antidotal.

cheers