>.Net is 3 years old, I believe, and only now are MS building in "VFP like data features" into .Net. Why now? You had VFP all along. The bottom line is that for whatever reasons unknown to us MS have decided that they prefer to add VFP like features into a language that does not have it rather than port the language that already does.


Hi Jos,

True. But remember, you can't turn a battleship on a dime. .NET is a big beast. And Microsoft had their hands full trying to get VB.NET in place and usuable by the already existing VB crowd. Trying to get VFP data features in there would have been one more monumental task to add to the already difficult workload.

Take the long-term view of this and try to imagine priorities if you thought .NET would have a 10-15 year run.

After three years of early pain, shakeout, marketing, learning and maturity, you start to get the traction you need and then you move to incorporate the great features of some other similar products (e.g., VFP).

.NET is arguably still in its early days.

Yeah, I'd like to see VFP go to 64bit.
Yeah, I'd like to see the 2GB file limit go away.
Yeah, I'd like to see VFP 10, VFP 11, ... yada yada yada.

But I'd also like to own an Austin Martin, and a couple of vacation homes. But it ain't happening... at least not in the next year or two.

We've all got priorities... Microsoft included... and we need to patiently work toward our goals recognizing that we might be able to have ~anything~ we want. But we probably can't have ~everything~ we want.

I've been alert to the vagueness of Microsoft's position on the future of VFP. It's not comforting. But as developers, we need to keep our eye on the ball. And the ball is NOT being wedded to this or that development tool. It's being able to provide a solution to a customer (or that department down the hall). As years and decades go by, our tools will change. We will move with the flow or just fade away like the glory of yesterday.

But this is not about you or I debating pros and cons. Microsoft has it's own battle. And it's not about VB or VB.NET versus VFP. It's about proprietary versus open-source. Inside Microsoft, VB versus VFP is a non-issue. That decision has already been made. Our liking it, or not, doesn't matter.

We're sitting in limbo waiting for Ken to give us some clues as to what's ahead for VFP. I'm dying to know, just like everyone else.

It won't be long now...

Guy