>I have a potential client that I need to convince to move from Clipper to VFP (or I don't get the job!). The programmers are predisposed to moving to Delphi/Oracle.
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>They process millions of billing records each week and spit out reports. I don't think any single batch approaches 2 gigs but I'm sure historical data is huge. They eventually want to move to a web delivery system and do not offer shrink-wrapped software to customers - no UI issues. They crunch data and spit out reports.
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>It sounds like a job for VFP and a backend for historical data. My problem is that I do not know enough about Delphi to speak intelligently about it, and why VFP would be a better choice.
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Just catching up from a few days away.

I use both Delphi and VFP. Sorry to say this, but in the above instance, Delphi will really shine.

I see the main differences between Delphi and VFP is the data manipulation.

Your scenerio suggests they will be using Oracle for the back end where the data manipulation is being handled by Oracle, rather than Delphi. I've coe to love VFP, but in this instance, they've chosen right.

Just another couple of observations:

Delphi is very hard to learn (although I've heard people say the sae for VFP)

Delphi has almost no support, at least here in NZ. VFP seems to have lot's support. The differrence between Borland and MSoft's support, is that Borland is only interested in the corporate purchaser and has no time at all for the programmer / developer. For example, I'm unhappy that it is considered a normal and standard practice to have to read the Borland source code to find out how to use some of the components.

Steve