>Eventually, I will probably be asked to modify the data in the DBASE IV files. I guess that presents a whole different problem.

Yup. VFP7 help says:
"If you want to use tables from a previous version of FoxPro or use dBASE files, you can open and use them without importing. Visual FoxPro will ask if you want to convert the table to the latest version of Visual FoxPro. Once you convert a table from a previous version, this table cannot be opened in the previous version."

But that's not clear if you can manipulate/change the data and still have dBase IV be able to recognize the file. Furthermore, can we programatically USE the dBase data, and not have to answer that conversion question? Maybe somebody else knows or has experience in this area.