>Grabbing something free today may end up costing your customers something tomorrow. Are you making sure they know that?

Yes i know, but if a future version becomes chargable, i may look at something else *or* if the update worths the price i will explain it to my customers and they will decide to upgrade or not.

>Do your customers know that you are installing a potential trap for them within their application?

No! And i am not.

>I bet if you looked hard enough inside the EULA for the MSDE you'd find that MS has the right to update its software anytime it wants via the internet or make its software stop running for any reason. That language is there so MS can charge whatever they want whenever they want and if your customer doesn't pay they can cut them off or throttle them back.

Common, be serious! Do you really think MS would automaticly update an MSDE installation and make it stop working without the consent of the user? This would be an equivalent to corporate suicide.

>Well, from your post I can tell that you seem to care more about your needs today than your customer's pocketbook tomorrow.

When i say "I works for me" It actually meens it works for my customers. And actually one of my biggest selling point is: "And if your company grows, you can just upgrade to a full fledged SQL server and still use the same application so your investment is safe."

>The "works for you" part is what I would call arrogant. People who aren't arrogant would be more interested in "works for my customers now and in the future".

That is exacly my point, it works for my customers today, and even if they grow to Medium/Lage size Enterprise they will still be able to use it. VFP Tables just can't do it.

But in the case of the original post, he was not looking for an enterprise grade DB, just a rock-solid DB and MSDE is rock-solid.

>The money MS makes off of the VFP product covers the cost of developing the DBF style table structures. The server product they are "giving away" will be throttled back at a future time when installed base reaches the desired level or MS just needs more money.

Yes, they may not have free versions in the future, but i doubt. The strategy of MS with MSDE is more to sell Sql server licences to MSDE users when they reach the maximum capacity of the DB (2GB) and more than 5-7 simultanous query. And i make sure i advise any potential customer i have of this fact.

>Remember: There's a big difference between DBF files and server applications. DBF tables are just files. As long as your old app works with them they won't change and everything will be fine. A Database server is an application. That application can simply be told to no longer run or to no longer support as many seats. And it can be changed remotely at almost any time!

That's the problem! They are just files and they can get corrupted. Again your assumption that MS would remotly access an MSDE installation and change it at any time would simply be a corporate suicide.

>
>VFP is more than just a great language and superior IDE. When you use VFP's DBF style tables you are ensuring your users that their business will be protected in the future from unexpected fees.

I agree with you, VFP is a great language and has a great IDE. I use it every day but not with DBF. The file type data storage is simply not the *best* way to go today ( For my customers ;) )

Stephane