Hi kevin,

>2) Generally though, I agree with your observations regarding Fox and Microsoft. I think the number of downward trends regarding FoxPro exceed the upward trends. VFP is a great tool that can do many things. But .NET is also a great tool that can do more things than some realize (or want to realize).
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>MS has openly stated that .NET is their strategic development tool - and yet those who talk about the features of .NET and cite first-hand market examples reflecting this are the ones accused of spreading FUD.

In case, you're refering to my post, all I want to say here is that people who are moving to the .NET platform because they FEAR the future of VFP and are UNCERTAIN they are going to make a living out of their VFP knowledge and DOUBT that the majority of VFP developers can, have made up their mind and made a personal decision. However, people spreading this thought are indeed spreading FUD (FEAR UNCERTAINTY DOUBT).

This behaviour is more damaging to VFP than anything else if you'd ask me. In contrast with Clipper there are virtually no technical reasons to justify the FUD. The VFP team releases new versions about every 18 months or so and they are regarded rather stable. Therefore I cannot see the parrallel people are trying to draw here between Clipper and VFP.

The thing about FUD is that people are afraid of their finance when sticking with VFP, and think .NET is the solution. Personally I think that .NET is too immature yet to be a safe investment. AVALON, YUKON and LONGHORN will crash this thought.

It is funny all those people speaking so highly about .NET don't seem to mention those three new technologies in their rants. Why ? Dont' they know? If they claim to look at the future, why can't you look at the future of .NET ? If you really do then you easily could see that this version of .NET actually might be an intermediate step and you'll want to rewrite your applications from scratch again within a few years.

So please tell me what advantages would it have to switch to .NET right now? Technical ? Code investment? Learning a leading language? I don't think so. I'd rather think it is marketing, yes ... microsofts marketing. As a result companies are more focusing on .NET. And if you're a contracter, .NET is an opportunity of finding work that you've lost with VFP. However, if as a company you've got significant experience in building VFP applications and can make a living out of it, I can only say: Think before you switch... Too many VFP shops have burned their fingers in the past on new development tools (Access, Java, VB).

Walter,