>While you look at various dotNET options - and C# and VB.NET are certainly not the only options- make sure you also check out Kylix which will allow you to develop for multiple camps and deliver apps to almost any customer, no matter what else happens or does not happen with the OS.

You should check python. I tried to move my foxisapi-based servlets
from vfp to python. At the end of the day (well a couple of weeks
including the learning curve ... 5000 lines of vfp became 3500 lines of python.

Performance did increase (a factor two only, as python is an interpreter) and most important, the code base is now os-independant and editor-independant.

My first client is a RH shop and the app runs like a charm on linux as well except for the odbc layer which is a bit tricky to set up on linux.

As most "open source" languages the www.python.org site is really poor on presentation. Do not be fooled. It is not a php clone nor a toy nor an engineering experience. But a splendid piece of software. You will not find a lot of IDEs as most pythonists do not need any...

And top important on my list, python fits my brain in way that is not very different from vfp:
- an interpreter that behaves a lot like vfp,
- an impressive syntax, extremely simple and yet one of the most
expressive on the language market place,
- a clever and passionnate user-base, mostly scientific people
who have an interest in code quality.

I would see no reason to use anything else if i were on my own. The pb arise when you need to deliver UI-rich win32 products where, of course, you need a lot more than just a language.

But you're not alone with python with both wxpython (based of wxwindows, a framework now suppported by borland) and Qt with PyQt (commercial product blackadder that use the impressive trolltech library).

It is sure as productive as most current win32 dev. alternatives but no match for vfp when it comes to data-intensive apps and sheer development productivity.

Those solutions (wxpython and pyqt) may not be mature a current time but they are on my 36-months roadmap to find a multi-platform (like it or not, the mac is coming back), interpreter-based environment that will make me forget about vfp. In the end.

But you need a lot of independance to make such a choice. I have got the mixed chance to be on my own.

François