I have no motivation to push people any direction. I am merely responding to what I believe are extremely shortsighted comments.

There are extremely knowledgable folks like Rick Strahl telling you that the supposed benefits you perceive are non-existent. I don't consider myself to be on his level technically. But I perceive myself to be better then most programmers businesswise.

Lack of corporate jobs in VFP, many corporations not allowing the purchase of 3rd party products if they are developed in VFP, etc., is all I need to see to know that I must learn more tools.

What I am currently doing should last at least 2 years. Weather I continue in this aspect on move on, I don't know. But I can at least see the writing.

Many tool developers have moved on. How could you be a tool developer and market a tool that can only work in a shrinking market? I have to seriously question your business accumen. Even if your tool is free.

Just try looking on the net for help with .net or java. Tons of sites. And not one asked me for money like this one. The UT can exist because the market for VFP is so small compared to others.

I can not only find more help for other languages, I think in many cases the help is of a higher caliber. As others have discussed here, creating apps that talk to each other thru various methods. There appears to be more design discussions in other places. More discussion of application issues.



>But what's your motivation to convince others to think the way you do? Isn't it possible that you're only describing your own situation and that it doesn't apply to everyone else? It amazes me that many here have decided that going to .NET is best for them therefore it's best for everyone else too and it's their job to make them see the light. I think the breadth of different enviroments and different mindsets will still allow vfp to continue to flourish despite the naysayers...
>
>>I am not discussing technology, programmers level of competence, etc. I am only discussing reality. I just described situations I have seen in my day to day existence. And based on these situations corporate IT has made decisions. And based on these decisions, more time then not, VFP is put on the "not allowed" list of tools.
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>>My choice is to either sit there and complain, or to learn other technologies so I can remain employed.
>>
>>Aren't you curious why so many really, really good programmers who were making posts on this forum as recently as 1 year ago no longer make appearances here?
>>
>>I am noticing a pattern when I visit other technical sites. Typically here it's the same posts over and over. I saw a thread the other day on a Java forum I frequent that basically starts with a Tic Tac Toe game. The purpose of the thread is to design the game. Very interesting, thought provoking. Some very sharp people contributing to the thread.
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>>For me, it's purely a matter of economics. Why are you so intent on holding onto your position. Unfortunately this is the face of technology. Constantly changing. There are still some very, very sharp VFP programmers. But most have moved on. You can make whatever excuses you want for them. They want to sell their books, their seminars, etc. But in the end, they are not the ones creating the momentum.
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>>How many companies are no longer in business, or will probably not be in business too much longer because of trends. The trend towards healthy eating is causing quite a problem for donut companies, fast food companies, etc. They either must go with the flow, or board up their business. It's not too tough a choice.
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>>>Using SQL or .NET is not a cure all for bad development. The example you describe reflects badly on poor development and not VFP. The developers who developed that are probably more likely to develop worse apps in .NET if they haven't learned anything better while using vfp...
>>>>I am simply stating what I have heard and seen. A typical scenario:
>>>>
>>>>- a department, for whatever reason, does not enlist IT's help, and selects a software package for their department.
>>>>- The package has been written in VFP, storing in DBF's
>>>>- The IT shop typically has no VFP programmers on staff. They develop their own apps in VB / Java / whatever their standard is. Probably storing data in SQL or Oracle
>>>>- At some point in time, IT is brought into the picture. Possible reasons:
>>>> 1) There were some problems. Possibly caused by bad indexes/dbfs and the vendor was unable/unwilling to fix the problem
>>>> 2) The system became corrupted and no one was backing up. IT is brought in to add this system to their backup routine
>>>> 3) The vendor has disappeared
>>>>
>>>>Once again, I am only stating what I have seen and heard. Not my personal beliefs. This is from my experience in the corporate world.
>>>>
>>>>In many cases, the cause is that the vendor is too small to support such a large client. Unfortunately, this reflects poorly on VFP. I witnessed this at the last company I worked at. Because my boss had no experience with SQL, he refused to look at any data store other then VFP. The app automated Excel. I'm not sure of the reason, but it required Excel 95 for this purpose. It still does today. So a major corporation, as part of their standard desktop setup, must load Excel 95 along with their standard Office version for anyone using this app. The app is used thru out the world, in some 3rd world countries. So there are many crashes, leading to data corruption.
>>>>
>>>>All this reflects on VFP. In '98 I started hearing from recruiters that all thier VFP contracts were for help in supporting an app until it was rewritten in whatever the new language was.
>>>>
>>>>Much like all the people I've seen who made numerous posts thru the years, who are no longer here, the places I've seen switch from VFP are not coming back.
>>>>
>>>>PF
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>>>>>If IT auditors believe that using VFP means storing data in dbfs, then they are ignorant.
>>>>>
>>>>>This ignorance is widespread and has become a party line in some quarters. Even some people who should know better seem to buy into it (nudge nudge) ;-)
>>>>>
>>>>>The point I tried to make was that when an IT vendor comes along with a flash new product, we respond. We reward the vendor for unloading untried-and-untested new stuff onto our customers and ourselves. This contrasts with other professions and makes us look more like Plumbers who will happily install the shower that was shown on TV last night if that is the customer's instruction. Well, accepting instructions like that in IT can be done by people half a world away at a third of the price. That's my point.
>>>>>
>>>>>Regards
>>>>>
>>>>>j.R