>Terry,
>
>the enterprise spending drives (directly) the development tool market, not cosumer spending. Look at jobs posting - what skills are required in enterprise : Java, PHP, C#, etc. All of them are targeted towards the enterpise developer. I respect your opinion that client/server may be back, however I have different opinion: the future is in thin client, portal based, deployment free, service oriented and firewall friendly systems. VFP lives very well in this architecture - but only if you drop client-server or file-server approach.

Thats a good position to take, understanding that your shop in in that line of business. What else can you say?

The thinnest client I've heard [rumors] of is a VFP GUI being pushed to an X-Term "client" (it's all ROM) from a UNIX server (WineX). It's cheap. I also heard that taping the VFP CD to the "dumb" terminal might be within the EULA :-)

If you're going to talk thin client, "enterprise spending" and Internet appliance type desktops - then maybe we should start looking at technology like dumb terminals and open source and UNIX? Maybe MS OS and add ons are a bit too fat and a bit too costly? That would fit your criterea - and [probably] be more cost efficient than MS architecture.

If you have clients that would rather spend more than less, please, share them with the group:-)

What will MS do with all those buffet tables and buffet services at the coder school sub?:-)

>I think it is not VFP, which fails to compete, not Microsoft which fails to promote VFP - it is a legacy approach to use VFP-based system which fails to deliver. If VFP developers would jump into contemporary enterise architecture, they would see that doors are widely open, they are back in the meetings and they win competition with Java camps. C# would greatly compliment (not substitute!) VFP, SQLServer would take care about data, and VFP developers would be busy doing the middle-tier...

Still C# and .NET and the OS are expensive. Support is expensive. And "language" schools are expensive. Not as cheap as UNIX (nor as robust).

Microsoft has more than our petty differences regarding .NET or not to .NET. VFP or .NET. Linux is growing a market. We can't stop progress - unless the world goes upside town, and the rest of us can find customers that would rather spend more than less!


>
>Igor.