Walter,

I realize that there is a world of difference between Clipper (Dos) and Visual Foxpro (Windows).

But my original intent was to compare the similarities in which the langauges are/were treated by their perspective owners. Both languages are/were not highly regarded by the companies who hold their copyrights.

When Computer Associates purchased Clipper, they had plenty of time to bring a Windows product to market. They have very deep pockets. They could have hired the best development team money could buy. (In fact, the original Clipper developers at Nantucket were looking for jobs!)

But what they did was to sit on the product for well over a year and did not endeavor to bring a Windows product out. The reason? Because CA had plenty of other cash cow software packages and didn't really need Clipper (aka Visual Objects).

The same is true with Microsoft and their approach to VFP. If nobody ever purchased another copy of VFP again, it wouldn't even register on MS's P&L radar screen. They couldn't care less, financially speaking.

What really made both Foxpro and Clipper really great products was that, for both their respective owners, they were flagship products. There was substantial incentive for the language developers to make them as great as possible. After being purchased by the big boys, both languages suffered similar treatment. I.e. disinterest.

-Steve