ActiveVFP(http://www.activevfp.com) is the free Open Source VFP alternative to PHP/Apache/MySQL (you just need to have VFP6SP5 or above). No licensing or other fees. While I have done the basics, there's no reason others could not greatly expand the offering to match or surpass anything in the PHP/Apache/MySQL realm...
>This is a good topic. For Myself I am hugely interested in PHP/Apache/MySQL and primarily because of Portal and CMS type apps. In other words on ASP.net there is only one CMS app to really choose from that I am aware of DotNetNuke and on PHP/Apache/MySQL there are too many for one person to review...
>
>I think WAMP/LAMP is the xBase of this decade and these open source portals/cms apps are going to be a big driver of that.
>
>Its affordable, clean, dependable, lots of resources for development, good interface, dependable persistence, lots and lots of ideas and example source floating around and lots and lots and lots of small to medium size businesses are implementing. All of that means plenty of development/Maintenance $'s for a decade or two to come. I don't see this kind of momentum anywhere else.
>
>I use Mambo: http://www.mamboserver.com and highly recommend it for too many reasons to list here.
>
>My site was setup using Mambo in no time. http://www.ixsys.com
>
>One of the interesting free add-ons to Mambo is called a Wrapper. A wrapper in mambo allows you to attach a URL to a menu link on the web app such that the external link once loaded looks like it is a native piece of the app.
>
>To see this in action go to my Wiki Link on my site http://www.ixsys.com and then see the original link at http://wakka.ixsys.com. My site ixsys.com is hosted by a hosting company. The Wiki app is run from my server at the end of my DSL link but the two look integrated. So my point here is use a CMS or portal to front end your web app and with mambo use the wrapper to point to the heavy lifting pages in your language/server of choice.
>
>I would recommend jumping into PHP/MySQL via a Portal or CMS install.
>
>The way I did this for myself was to install Reactor Server on my internal box: http://www.reactorserver.com then you can easily install quite a few web apps there to play with.
>
>Here are some links to what I believe are some interesting CMS apps: http://ixsys.com/index.php?option=com_weblinks&Itemid=4&catid=93
>
>If you do a Google on PHPNuke you will begin to find many more web apps.
>
>One last point I think is interesting here many may not know about. There is a new driving force in LAMP hosting and that is Fantastico.
>
>I purchased my hosting for $99.00 for a year. With that in my Admin pages (CPanel is the admin app) is a page called Fantastico. With Fantastico I can install one of about 10 different CMS/Portal Apps and 30 other biz type web database apps....in a second.
>
>All of this means sell customer a hosting plan with Fantastico, install CMS in a second, spend a day or so populating basic content, a few days teaching customer how to manage that, then quickly get down the heavy work the customer really wants.