Hi Jim,

>So no, I don't think that in ANY way we are killing ourselves. And I don't think we'll ever even come close to doing so because we have a vast field of potential users out there, far far wider than anything the 'big iron apps' can ever hope to have.

I just snipped your messages' last paragraph because, for me, it sumarizes the correct thinking about what's happening.

You, like me, are following (as I could see) FoxFinalVersion and think there the discussion about future versions of VFP takes a way far different from some we see here in UT. I'll try to explain it, better.

I understand your point about what's going on with the "regular" (ordinary) FoxPro developer (find a job, industry recession, long work hours etc) and I can agree with that. But, perhaps, you'll agree with me on what's going on with the outstanding guys from our community, that are not making the apology of FoxPro in dotNET times loud and clear. All I can hear is that we have to improve our skills, learning new tools is allways necessary, blah, blah, blah. Nothing wrong with those words, at the end, but it seems to me as an escape to be more clear and say "I'm leaving!".

This king of feeling is spreading fast in a way that people, maybe unconciently started beating in KL, in such a way that Alex Soza even start a thread about "are we beating too much in Ken?". Not that I agree that such a thread has a need to be started or that we are beating too much in Ken, but think that an anger is agressivelly being expressed by many people, against those only ones that I feel (still) are on our side.

I'm along with VFP till the turn off the lights, you can be sure of that, and I'm old enough and have a professional career passing for so many programming languages (now "tools") to learn that there will allways be a "fashion" tool, language, DBMS, technology, methodology or whatsoever on the spot, and that we must make our choices carefully, in the right time to fulfil our specific needs. If I (or you) started to learn each "fashion" stuff that appeared in the last 20-30 years, probably I (and you) hadn't worked to make money to feed our families, we would be spending all our time studying, buying books, attending courses, seminars, making tests etc.

Not everybody is wealthy enough or have time enough to jump from tool to tool everytime MS or any other company says it is the next step to go. Actually I think the vast majority of developers worldwide can't, but many many people keep their eyes in what's going on, what people are saying, like Ken and other people of the VFP team, listening and watching the VFP world gurus, checking FoxPro magazines (or not "so" FoxPro magazines but also devoted to FoxPro developers, if you know what I mean).

Is dotNET a threat to VFP? In my opinion it is! Many will say it isn't, that FoxPro developers can use it in its ou favor, to complement their apps or vice-versa, God knows what can be said in favor of doNET+FoxPro. But I think it's a fallacy, because the last threat to FoxPro came exactly with dotNET and, if it succeds, FoxPro will, at least, be pushed to marginality, some like FoxPro DOS (still) is right now. You may have read here about FoxPro and Longhron, Widbey and all that soup letter MS is prepairing for *us*. Windows will be for VFP, when Longhorn comes, the same as DOS was for FoxPro: the way to marginality.

I can understand that it is too soon to say what I'm saying, Jim, but, just to finish, let me paste some words that summarize some of what I said here. It was written in FoxFinalVersion by Steven Black:

"Absolutely. You (we) have had, for many years now, more software development capability than you (we) will ever need, or use. In the scheme of things, from a capability standpoint, the next version of Fox is about as momentous as the next version of Excel or Word. Anyone who is serving his customers at the pleasure of Microsoft, or whose value-chain depends on Microsoft's support of his favorite development environment, is strategically in a pretty pathetic position. In other words, if your value proposition is dependent on what Microsoft says or does, then you're probably f* no matter what you do. Good luck. On the other hand, if your value proposition is to delight customers by reliably delivering phenomenal value to their businesses, then the next version of Fox (or Excel or Word) doesn't count for very much at all. I say: beware of the numerous bozos in this industry who always have easy answers conveniently at hand in the form of the next version of anything."

Pardom me for this long reply.

Regards,

Fernando