<snip>
>>...in your opinion. You don't have anything solid to base this upon.
>
>My opinion is an informed one - based on observable fact. If you don't think there has been an accross the board downward trend in virtually every category of the Fox market - then you need to look closer at the situation.

Your "observable facts" appear to ignore the positive observable facts, eg Re: The biggest VFP-systems Thread #862196 Message #863612.


>>>Things expand or contract - there is no third direction.
>>
>>
>>It was you who first mentioned the alternative of staying flat.
>
>I don't think I did. IAC, show were I wrote that.

You did. And obviously there is a third direction which is a flat market.


>>Financially speaking, a company will not necessarily divest of products that continue to be profitable.
>>
>
>Correct - so long as it fits within the company's strategy. With that goal, company will keep an unprofitable product around - as a loss-leader. The key is that there is a viable market. MS has identified the xBase market as being a dog that is a cash cow of sorts. It is elementary - you milk your cash cows - even if they are dog markets - with little or no investment.

According to Jim Eddins this "dog" of a market is selling more copies of VFP7 than what the arguably biggest reseller of VFP can lay their hands on. And selling these copies across the board from small outfits to corporate users and government departments.


>>> FWIW, Fox is not a substitute for SQL Server. They are completely different animals.

But who said it was?


>>>You do realize that if a file-server based data mechanism is required, MS will advocate Access before Fox...

Well not according to the Microsoft VFP home website (although perhaps its all a conspiracy):


Microsoft Visual FoxPro 8.0 provides the tools you need to create and manage high-performance, 32-bit database applications and components. Its robust tools and data-centric, object-oriented language make it ideal for building modern, scalable, multitier applications that integrate client/server computing and the Internet.


and...


With its local cursor engine, tight coupling between language and data, and powerful features, Visual FoxPro 8.0 is a great tool for building database solutions of all sizes. Its data-centric, object-oriented language offers developers a robust set of tools for building database applications for the desktop, client-server environments, or the Web. Developers will have the necessary tools to manage data—from organizing tables of information, running queries, and creating an integrated relational database management system (DBMS) to programming a fully-developed data management application for end users.


and my personal favourite on the topic of Access and VFP ...


Q. How do you position Visual FoxPro in relation to Microsoft Access?

A. Microsoft Access, the database in Office, is the most broadly used and easiest-to-learn database tool that Microsoft offers. If you are new to databases, if you are building applications that take advantage of Microsoft Office, or if you want an interactive product with plenty of convenience, then choose Microsoft Access. Visual FoxPro is a powerful rapid application development (RAD) tool for creating relational database applications. If you are a database developer who builds applications for a living and you want ultimate speed and power, then choose Visual FoxPro. Yippie-Kay-Ay baby!!


The facts are that Jim Eddins, amongst other vendors, is selling a lot of copies of VFP, worldwide. And MS continue to invest in it, enhance it, and bring out new releases. That, my friend, are the "observable facts" that many of us choose to include in our observations of the current state of VFP. The glass is half full.


And on whether .Net is at an early adopter stage or not - please comment on these posts. It would be most informative. Specifically any comment on the apparently poor performance of winforms and the compatiblity issues for current VS.Net winforms and the next VS release (which would be suggestive of an early stage of development for any product, imho):

Mario Montoya: Message #861017

Rick Strahl: Message #856716

Cetin Basoz: Message #861341