John,

Doing my very best (New Year and all that) to respond intelligently to what you appear to be offering as a genuine reply...
SNIP
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>Material in terms of market dynamics? I doubt it. Too often, technical issues are somehow conflated with business/marketing issues. I don't question for one moment - the techncial effacacy of VFP/WW. But as you say - it would only be of interest to EXISTING Fox Shops.
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>On a related note - driving technology choices based on the implementation of a current code-base - IMO - rarely yields an optimal choice. The choice may be good enough - which is usually what will fit the bill - but it won't be optimum. The real IP value in any app is in what it does - not in how it is written. Future technology choices OTOH - should be influenced by the specific tools adopted.

You say "...rarely leads to an optimal choice.". I'm reminded of the saying that goes something like 'let's not let the goal for perfection stand in the way of the very good'.
I really have to ask you just what would be the "optimal" choice for a shop with skilled VFP developers and a successful VFP application suite needing integration with the internet?
Surely you will not be answering with ASP.NET plus C#/VB.NET plus SQL Server since it remains basically UNPROVEN technology with only glowing POSSIBILITIES as its credentials.

You say "The real IP value in any app is in what it does - not how it is written.". Clearly, then, a VFP app could easily have a very high IP value just as a VB4 or a C++ app could... and as a .NET app may someday have.

Finally, I'm having a lot of trouble understanding your statement "Future technology choices OTOH - should be influenced by the specific tools adopted.".
Can you explain it further. It sure seems backwards to me at this point.

Jim