Hi Leland,

It's good to be back...If keeping the pot stirred means people will get a different perspective and will think about the issue in a different way - then I am on the right track. These are important issues - and reasonable people can differ. The key is not to get personal...

As for your comments - I agree with most of them. I think developers should look at non-MS solutions. There is some very interesting work going on out there.

I am not as pessimistic about .NET as you are - but I understand where you are coming from.

As far as splitting up MS - I don't think that is the answer. Clearly - MS was engaged in some anti-competitive behavior. Today - I see lots of options - both MS and non-MS options out there. The question is how much do developers really want to invest the time to learn something new. Again - there are options.

In this community - the opinion of MS as whether it is a good corporate citizen or not turns on how it treats Fox. The irony is this - a lot of critisisms of MS are on macro-economic grounds. Those critisims could be alleviated if MS promoted Fox. i.e, MS could be the most anti-competitive company on the planet - but - if it promoted and supported Fox - that would sit fine with many in the Fox Community.

Good talking with you...

< JVP >

>Hi John,
>
>Its good to see you back as you do a wonderful job of keeping the pot stirred.
>
>The Microsoft message is to jump on the Dot Net train. Enterprises, developers, and small businesses contemplating this option should consider adopting Dot Net very carefully, and ask themselves where it might lead in one year, two years or five years. It could become a very expenses choice.
>
>Consider developing an enterprise application that only run on a Microsoft Windows Server and can only be access by a Microsoft Windows client. Now broaden this scenario to encompasses the World Wide Wed. If Microsoft were able to achieve the critical mass necessary, it would technically own the Internet.
>
>I would hate to see the Internet monopolized by a single proprietary Company. Imagine the power each individual would be placing in the hands of a single company if Dot Net became the only option.
>
>Microsoft's marketing machine is busy putting out the bait. Those who bit will take it hook, line, and sinker and then Microsoft -- Gotcha.
>
>We as programmer need options to insure healthy competition, the kind that keeps everybody honest. This make cross platform critical. It would be wonderful if we could develop a Visual FoxPro application and run it across all major OS/s like Linux, Solaris, BDS, AIX, HP/UX, Mac OS/X etc. Wouldn't that be wonderful.
>
>However, I feel like Microsoft is pushing towards eliminating all options including VB and VFP to force everything and everybody to Dot Net. Once Dot Net has been established, I would expect Microsoft to systematically began destroying any company that is offering an alternative to Dot Net. Are you beginning to get the picture.
>
>I personally feel like Microsoft should be split into, at least, two companies. One company would be given the OS, and the other company would be given applications. It would be even better if the application company were at least split between development applications like VB, VFP, and Dot Net and third party apps like Office.
>
>Just my thoughts on preserving free enterprise.
>
>LelandJ