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>That's simply not true, because VFP -is not- a dotNet language. There are assumptions about dotNet which will not apply to VFP; the most immediate example is portability. VFP is a Win32 product; if someone comes up with a Linux/Mac/BEOS/Solaris/Palm port of the CLR, your VFP apps will not move to the new environment unless, in addition to a CLR implementation, there's a Win32 emulator. Many aspects of dotNet are omitted in VFP; a simple example is the thread model options open to dotNet apps regardless of the development language; VFP remains a single apartment threaded environment.
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>Why do you feel a need to deceive the public or weaken the meaning of dotNet? dotNet is not the same as Microsoft owned and approved; it refers to a specific arena that, while we can freely interact with it, we don't get all the benefits (or all the problems) of playing directly with it in the sandbox. Let's not confuse the issue of what dotNet means just to get a couple of people to let you use VFP where VFP rather than a dotNet language is the right tool for implementation. Instead, work on educating the public about choosing the right tool for solving a problem.

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I must agree with you Ed. At the same time I realize that my marketing budget is not as great as Microsofts. My impact upon making corporations and clients embrace a product that Microsoft does not recommend is limited.

I have tried to convince many decision makers to consider VFP. However, the Microsoft team has convinced them that .NET is the way to go. Even when VFP was a part of Visual Studio (versions 97 and 6.0) VFP was not recommended by Microsoft in the Silicon Valley and San Francisco Bay Area.

I feel like a man trying to hold back the oceans tide with two hands. I am game to make the attempt but seem to be loosing the battle on a grand scale. Frustration is the word to express my feelings based upon my experience.

Without proper marketing no product will gain acceptance regardless of its virtues. Personally, I am glad I use more than one tool to support my family. With two children in college I have no illusions about reality.

I do what I have to do to survive. However, making false claims is something I would not want to represent. As you stated so well VFP is not .NET!

Tom

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>My experience is that, bottom line, most clients want results from the finished product much more than they want buzzwords. We aren't sales critters, we're problem solvers, at least in theory. Go solve problems rather than make new ones!