The problem is people are confusing the tool itself with the MARKET for the tool. I've used all versions of VFP since the beginning with roots in DBASE II and DBASE III. I'm a certified AccPac consultant and Pro Series accounting keeps many VFP programmers like myself from seeing any kind of real 'death' of VFP in the near future.

However, I would be first to say that it probably wouldn't be smart to revolve a new programming career around VFP. If you already have years of experience and know VFP inside and out then there is no reason to panic. There are jobs available and VFP is a wonderful tool. That's a lot different perspective however than someone who is just starting out, trying to pick a winning horse.

With executive types and dealing with management that only cares about solutions, then you can still do new work in VFP and make a strong case. But I can tell you from firsthand experience VFP can be a very tough sell when dealing with seasoned corporate IT departments. Walking into a mid to large-sized company with knowledgable IT personel and getting them to choose VFP for new development projects is dicey at best.

Part of the problem is that even experienced IT departments believe that FoxPro is a database that is unreliable and un-suitable for corporate environemnts. In many ways,they are right. Once you get over about 20 users, VFP becomes increasingly difficult to support. If a client machine locks up for whatever reason, indexes can get corrupted forcing everyone out to rebuild them. Large companies can't afford to kick 50 users out of a system so they can rebuild an index or pack deleted files.

Another thing that really hurts VFP in the corporate market is there is no real security in VFP databases. For example it is impossible to give supervisors access to data only from their departments or for only certain rows in a table. All they need is a copy of VFP and any security constraints you wish to have on data is completely gone. Employees can also easily steal data from most VFP installs by just burning a table onto a local CDROM drive. I've seen this actually happen and it's one of the biggest risks you take in deploying VFP across a large number of users. If you don't want your data to walk off site without your knowledge, don't use VFP for the backend!

The main thing we all know though is that VFP is more than just a database and that it is an excellent front end to Oracle, MySQL or MSSQl. So VFP can play in the largest of corporate markets, as long as you don't depend soley on VFP for the backend. The problem is that even most IT departments just don't realize that FoxPro works so well with other databases. Once they hear FoxPro, they immediately think obsolete database; or at least a database that doesn't scale to hundreds of users.

Another problem is that large companies depend on largeer pools of talent and that VFP solutions can make it tough for them to find replacments when people leave. I can promise them up and down that I'll stand by their VFP app but it doesn't help them if something happens to me and they have a much harder time finding a VFP programmer than a .NET programmer.

I strongly believe that unless Microsoft reverses it's decision to support VFP as a .NET language platform that it will not be accepted well in corporate America for new projects. Not unless you already have a strong team of VFP programmers in place.

Another strategic move would be to create a new version of VFP that natively supports MS SQL as an alternative to DBF files. If Microsoft could integrate the SQL engine seamlessly into a new version of VFP and provide solid migration tools there could still be a chance to make VFP a more compelling platform.

Greg

>Fernando,
>
>My goal is not to posture for MS at any level. I'm simply giving what I believe to be a very practical example that contributes to this thread. It's as much a disservice to only present a positive image of Foxpro as it would be only to present a negative one. Would I encourage anyone to start using Foxpro as their primary development language? No. Do I believe that it is a valuable tool that has basically supported me for the past 13 years? Yes. It is a great language and tool, but it is not the future and unfortunately for some of us the future matters a great deal.
>
>>Hi Jay,
>>
>>That's ok, but could you tell me what would you do IF you were from MS and put your ears to listen those words about the doom of VFP comming *from* members of VFP community? Would you keep implementing new versions of it?
>>
>>All we must pray for is that MS don't take their decisions based on what some people say about VFP (fortunatelly it seems to me they don't).
>>
>>We *all* should promote VFP as hardly as we can and not bash over it and/or those developers that have it as their tool of choice.
>>
>>Regards,
>>
>>Fernando
>>
>>>Walter,
>>>
>>>I don't always see eye-to-eye with John, but to me it's as simple as doing a search for Foxpro positions in the US compared to other languages. I was out of work for over a year. It was definately a bad time for all of the IT market, but if I had had experience in VB I would have had offers. Because my background has been almost exclusively Foxpro I ended up doing home repair for that year. I'm not saying Foxpro is dead, but you can't argue with the practical facts faced when trying to find work.
>>>
>>>Renoir
>>>
>>>
>>>>John,
>>>>
>>>>>A few things to keep in mind. Take with a grain of salt ANYBODY who says that things are great or that Fox is "no worse off" than other technologies. This is pure BS and in effect - represents nothing more than the personal agenda of some for wishful thinking.
>>>>
>>>>Please. provide us with facts. Why should we take your words for granted as you proved not to have any knowledge in this area. You consistently are trying to play your game of VFP is dead. Your behaviour of telling lies is very harmfull to the VFP community. You consistently have proved not knowing what you're talking about in about all areas of software development. You don't provide any examples or prove and avoid issues where your knowledge can be measured.
>>>>
>>>>Fact is John, YOU'RE A FAKE. You know very little about software developement and the world arround you. You only like to hear yourself talking. It would not surprise me if you lawyer training is just a distraction again. I doubt if you'll ever be one. Just face it, you don't have the what it takes to be a software developer GURU and never will be. You simply don't understand the world arround you. You try to mask this with all kinds of assumptions and false statements. You're just a parasite from the VB world. Go back and let this become a peacefull place again