>Is VFP ever going to use the .net framework controls? A big undertaking of course but maybe it'd be worth the effort?

When you say controls, do you really mean classes? Let me know and I can answer your question better. For related information...

Microsoft has released Visual FoxPro 8.0 and is currently working on the next version of Visual FoxPro code named Europa. For more information about Visual FoxPro 8.0 including stand alone pricing information, refer to the announcement at http://www.levelextreme.com/VisualFoxPro/News/VFP8Release.asp. The VFP 8.0 documentation is now online at http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dv_foxhelp/html/vfp8_vfp7startpage.asp. There will be new content and announcements around VFP 8.0 coming over the next few weeks.

There are currently no plans to have Europa be based on or use the Windows .NET Framework nor integrated into Visual Studio .NET. The plan for Europa is to be primarily based on FoxPro developer wish list feedback and remain a direct upgrade to Visual FoxPro 8.0 with backwards compatibility. The features and expected release date for Europa are not announced at this time.

Visual FoxPro 8.0 is supported by Microsoft until 2010 in the developer tools lifecycle support plan. See http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;en-us;obsoletedevtool for more details.