Without getting into a lot of semantics (although I think I'm up to my waist at this point <>), I think it matters from a technical standpoint because if I use the Whidbey group's personalization in my site as-is (with MDB), then use a web stress test tool, Jet will crumble under n users (5? 10?), where VFP won't. Googling for info on Access and multiuser stress in web apps gives almost as many hits as Janet Jackson and the Superbowl. :)

I think that this is another example of Microsoft as a company not competing well enough against LAMP and other solutions. *I* know that a MS-based solution is the best thing going, but when folks start talking about out-of-the-box best-of-breed, the MS-based solution can fall down once you get past the 1-user demo, and sticking with Jet as the default in Whidbey doesn't help.

With the richness of the ADO.NET model, it would have been even better to use DataSets exclusively and just store them in the filesystem as needed. Using the MDB smells like a last-minute hack.

Sometimes it makes sense to be in the behavior modification business, some folks call that marketing. ;)


Plus, the VFP OLEDB provider does not require the installation of the VFP runtime:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=0f43eb58-7a94-4ae1-a59e-965869cb3bc9&displaylang=en




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>if a cutting-edge group at Microsoft can't choose the appropriate database tool, it's hard to expect other people "to get it".
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>It would be a tough sell, wouldn't it.... The question you have to ask is whether it make sense to be in the behavior modification business.
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>I am saying that the Jet database, as implemented in the MDB file format, is inferior to the VFP data engine implemented in the DBC/etc file formats.
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>Based on what criteria? Clearly, MS and many others would not agree with you. And assuming you are technically correct, does it matter? Assuming Jet is inferior, is it signficantly inferior? And...given that the upgrade path between Access to SQL Server is almost seamless, again, does it matter? I would dare say that while your argument may hold sway in a theorhetical/academic setting, in practical/real world, it does not.
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>I would have expected the Whidbey team to know better, especially since the VFP8 OLEDB driver is a free/easy download.
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>Except that you need the VFP 8 runtime to use the VFP 8 OLE-DB Provider.
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>Remember Steve, it is not a MS goal to incrase the awareness of VFP. If you finally begin to understand that, you will have answered your own question.