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>Speaking of poor choices of words, I'll also add that JVP made a poor choice of words when he declared "Today, I stand here representing over 500,000 Visual FoxPro developers in the World." It would have been so easy to word that differently and avoid all the ensuing stink.
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>First off Michael, the only people PO'd over the statement were people like Dan, Whil, Ted, Tamar, etc. Less than 10 or so. It was a closed deal - NDA. As I recall, you were not there....
>

No I wasn't there, John. The quote came from you in Message #911376. Surely you understand that your assertion could have been worded less objectionably, with no loss of accuracy or effectiveness.

>As one of the biggest WHINERS over the lack of VFP marketing over the years, I fail to see how you could have a real problem with me making that statement...
>

For Chrissake, John, don't you get it? I'm not a whiner. I've made a request and stated my arguments in support of it. Cheap shots like that are precisely what I'm talking about.

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>I don't disagree with everything John says, in fact I agree with many of his observations, but I disagree with many of his central premises and conclusions. Above all, I disagree with his debating tactics and the way he expresses himself. In that regard, I think John is his own worst enemy. I don't mean this as a personal attack, but as a constructive criticism.
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>Just curious, which premises and conclusions do you disagree with???

I hope you'll excuse me for not poring over numerous threads in search of a specific reference. Speaking very generally, a premise that I disagree with is the assumption that Microsoft will dictate the future of programming languages and operating systems, i.e. because MS says it will be so, it will come to pass. I also dispute the presumption that because MS asserts that something is not part of their plans, they will not or can not be persuaded to change their minds.

As to conclusions, it's pretty clear how the numerous arguments you have built upon these faulty premises are debatable. You state your prognostications as if they were incontestable facts, and while you may turn out to be correct, you've only weakened your case by making a poor argument for it. VFP isn't dead yet, but it's in a sorry state, on that I'll agree. For me, though, and for many, it's still the best language and programming environment that actually exists. Maybe .NET will someday hold a candle to VFP, maybe not, but I am far from convinced that my time would be better spent at this point by learning more about .NET.

Mike