I respect your opinion, but I believe that many are pleased with the news on VFP9. Please consider the following:
1) VFP9 cannot (not should) be all things to all people. That's what the third party market is for. The VFP Codebook demonstrates the basic workings of an object-based menu system. There are good third-party tools (ActiveBar, Component Toolbox) to create object-based, sexy-looking toolbar/menubar front-ends for your main screen.
I don't consider the report-writer in Europa to be 'limited'. If you understand how report writers function under the hood, you'll realize that support for multiple detail bands is a large enhancement. Better zooming is another one. I'd say that over half of VFP developers will be happy with the RW changes.
Hopefully the RW can be served to users as a report object in VFP9 - architecturally, a good analogy is how much more powerful the grid control became when it was changed from a command (BROWSE) to an actual object.
It's very unlikely that it will be as 'powerful' as Crystal (which is what I use), but it doesn't need to be. Those who need something stronger should consider Crystal (or ActiveReports, etc.)
Bottom line is that those who expect the tool to do everything are ultimately limiting themselves.
2) A big area of attention in VFP9 seems to be one where a database tool SHOULD receive focus - SQL enhancements. I'm pleased to see/hear that they've added additional support for subqueries and such, that make it 'closer' to the SQL-92 standard.
3) It also seems they've made VFP9 more robust in working with back-ends like SQL Server. Creating bigger arrays is also a welcome addition.
4) There are a few XML enhancements in VFP9. Keep in mind that there were significant enhancements in VFP8 for Web Services.
