For the record, the primary reason for this change (defaulting to 8.0 behavior) was that certain query constructs that are permissible in VFP 7.0 and before may return incorrect or indeterminate results. In our view, it was very important that we did not default to 7.0 behavior, which would facilitate leaving "as is" applications that contained SQL statements that potentially return incorrect data.
For those who are certain that their use of these SQL constructs is OK, it is easy enough to switch the behavior to 7.0 via config.fpw. Otherwise, we recommend adopting the new 8.0 SQL behaviors.
Gene Goldhammer
Program Manager
Microsoft Visual Studio Data Team
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