Claude,

>>It's like going to a .NET forum and sermonizing that they make the switch to Open SOurce ...

Exactly. It is increasingly clear that some people with no obvious reason to come here, get their "kicks" by coming to the boondocks to make contentious or overtly rude statements, then opening their eyes wide and acting hurt if anybody reacts.

The saddest thing is the smug certainty that anybody who prefers VFP has their head stuck in the sand or is by definition inferior. How often have we seen that? The first time it happened to me was when Powerbuilder was going to eat my lunch. The fickle tides of the market come and go and there are no absolutes and no certainty, just competence and adherence to sound business principles. Including the ability to LISTEN rather than assuming one is always right and has a duty to "correct" any dullard who is so stupid as to disagree.

For the record: I've said for quite a while that the lack of a proper local data engine makes dotNET less suitable for me. Trying to replicate large persistent local tables adds a whole layer of complexity that distracts from the real import of our work. You have no idea how pleased I was to hear that MS is listening and plans to do something about this. If and when this is resolved, we'll take another look. Is there a downside to this approach? NO- as we are creating XML for consumption by dissociated apps, nobody else except us could care less how we achieve the result, as long as it works. This is a reality that will not go away just because somebody has "seen the light" and feels sure it can be applied uncritically to me as well.