>hi
>i'm supporting a clipper app where the management have decided to perform a techical upgrade and invite tender bids.
>basically they want to go to .net (because it's fashionable?) and won't listen to my protestations that VFP is the app to use because of it's superb database management features and backward compatibility with DBF files.
>one of their reasons was after doing a job search on foxpro on computer futures (one of the largest agencies in the uk) and getting zero results, yes zero! then switching to jobserve.com, probably THE largest in the uk, and getting 10 results only!
>my answer that microsoft were committed to vfp at least until 2010 didn't really hild any water after these proofs.
>i hate to add to this forum type but can someone please tell me things are not looking so bad?
>barry

They're not so bad - Microsoft won't be king forever. There will be other xBase products - dBase2000 (a native Windows OOP xbase) is in the wings. There is also Flagship. Who knows what the Linux community will come up with.

Tell your boss that the UK uses a FoxPro program to manage their treasuries. This seems like a situation that the inventor of netscape called "the crappy guy syndrome" (wired magazine). IT managers, instead a of picking the best talent, tend to pick talent that is less talented than they [the IT managers] are. Even management will come up with create forms of job security

I remember a project where the solution was as easy as implementing an Office automation. Some of the team did not feel compfortable [or were not knowledgeable] with OLE programming, so they suggested a thirdparty product that no one had heard of. The philosophy: If you fear you will appear dumb becuase you don't understand something, pick something that no one will understand.

Besides, with all the worms and viruses and DOS - client server might just be a clunker technology that took care of us while we waited for the next great information architecture.