>You said later in this thread that you are a lone developer and the expense of development tools is difficult for you to cover. Well, the list price for VS.NET Developer (the lowest version) _upgrade_ is $549 US (full product $1,079 US). Compare that to the VFP upgrade price of $349 US with the full packaged product coming in at $649 US. Not only that, you don't need to buy SQL Server Developer Edition so you can test out your data.


Hi Cindy. I understand where you're coming from with this -- price counts, of course! But, like the poster you were responding to I am a lone developer, and I can tell you that this price difference is effectively very minor. And certainly not enough, IMO, to factor into the decision of which tools to use.

To begin with, we developers make a lot of money, relatively speaking, and part of the cost of doing business is paying for the tools. I have found, in fact, based on comparisons with friends who run other businesses, that being an independent programmer requires less capital than owning a store or restaurant, despite hardware and software costs. When I upgraded my PC this year I didn't think twice about spending a few hundred dollars more for a gig of RAM -- it's the cost of doing business, just as, if I ran a coffee shop, a good refrigerator would be part of the cost of doing business. And would cost a lot more. So while I maynot like to shell out x dollars for a product, if I really expect to run my own business, this is part of the cost. I certainly would not choose the tool I work in based on a $200 price difference.

Which brings me to my second point. Since, for a lone developer, these expenses are the cost of doing business, they are also tax-deductible, so that $200 difference actually comes out to less in "real" dollars -- the exact amount will depend on your state and local taxes as well as fed taxes [for those of us in NY, NJ, and other states, this, of course, is more pronounced]. And of course, the tax savings will depend on the amount you make per year -- again, as a developer, odds are good that you're probably in a higher tax bracket than, say, a receptionist.

One additional side note regarding the SQL Server development purchase you mention: for development purposes I really think that MSDE would be fine, and it's free with VS.Net and other products. In fact, the only software purchase of the past two years that I actually regret is SQL Server Developer Edition, because so far, there's nothing that I could not have done with MSDE for development purposes.

So again, I follow what you are saying, and I agree with the direction of your thought, but all in all, I think it's hard to argue that VFP is a bargain relative to VS.Net. (Personally, I think they are both bargains.) You can argue that VFP is a better language than VB.NET or C# or anything else in the VS.Net toolbox, but it's really hard to argue that it's significantly cheaper, or much more cost-effective. Certainly not enough, IMO, to factor into the decision of which tools to use.