Tom:

I've been learning .NET over the past few months and I have found it to be a great development environment. Handling data, tool integration, productivity can be just as great with .NET as with VFP. I've been using Fox since 1985, wrote the WebRad book, so I have a decent background in it. But the sad fact is, MS in not so subtle ways, has made VFP irrelavent. Nobody in corporations even knows it exists and if you have to go into a job and start from scratch to educate them on the merits, you'll have a tough road ahead of you.

VFP is not immune from the same problems that cause a "death march" in any other language.In absolute numbers you hear about less horror stories because there are so few users of VFP. But proportionally, I am sure the rate is the same as in any other environment.

Harold




>Chuck;
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>You should look at this from a “professional perspective” according to the eyes of management. Forget the lack of advertising or even the direct statements from Microsoft that exclude VFP when talking to industry and business leaders.
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>What does management like? Why they like to see smoke coming from your keyboard and you should work 120-hour weeks to show that you are a “company man/woman” (person if you prefer)! If you used VFP you would have a successful project completed on time and under budget with little if any overtime.
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>By all means use any other Microsoft tool so you can have a budget overrun and work a few thousand extra hours with the possibility of failure. After all, at the corporate level Exempt Employees are not paid overtime. So we need to promote the use of non-VFP tools to enhance management’s position. After all, management is the group of “shakers and movers”. They shake Martini’s and move from one meeting to another.
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> Microsoft says use .NET (or any other tool like Access) and management says, “YES”. Now management does not have to think or make serious decisions as to what development tool to use to be successful. When corporate heads view the decisions lower management make they hear the same line from Microsoft, “Use .NET”! In that way top management always knows that lower management is “doing the right thing” based upon Microsoft’s “advice”! Do not rock the boat in corporate America. It is not good for your career.
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>By the way did you ever ask a Ford Dealer what type of car you should buy? Not a good analogy as there are many automobile manufacturers but there is only one Microsoft! Why even an analogy about God will produce the same result. Ask God which religion you should belong to! The trouble is there are people that believe in many gods.
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>I think Microsoft does have the ear of industry in a manner that is unique to any entity I can conceive. There may be other voices but they are but a thin whisper in comparison to Microsoft.
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>So my advice to developers at companies that do not use VFP is to give up your life, your family and the possibility of free time. Dig your head into the sand and be "a real programmer"!
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>Tom