Rich,

>The very good news is that I have a unique blend of being the ONLY current person who can support the application and having a great deal of knowledge of the business side of the application...

That's a part of the equation that many corporate IT departments overlook when considering a shift of platform -- the domain knowledge of the business side (why things work the way they do) and intimate knowledge of the existing application codebase (how things work the way they do).

>... and today the outsourcer decided to retain me to support the application (and I even get to keep my current salary and benefits).

Good news for you, at least for a time. While continuing to maintain the application through the outsourcer, you would be well-served to use this window of time to expand your knowledge (personal development of the developer, probably on your own time) by learning some additionally marketable skills.

It's always a good idea to have more than one tool on your toolbelt, even if just used as a door-opener for job interviews in the future. I think I'm more likely to be impressed if a contractor I'm considering to build an extra room on my house shows up with more than his handy-dandy gadget-filled pocket knife. :-)

OK, now someone is going to flame me for suggesting that VFP is just a pocket knife -- but that's not what I really mean and that's not what I said. I was simply taking an argument to the absurd to make a point about being a single-tool developer and how that limits your own marketability, especially when other peoples' perceptions of you can make or break your chances of landing a job.

In the real world of IT, I think I would be more impressed if a job applicant showed up with not only VFP experience, but also SQL Server or MySQL or Oracle, some web development experience, and at least a technically-accurate understanding of other technologies. That's even if I just wanted a VFP-only application.

Why? Because it shows me that the developer is someone who has an interest in expanding his toolset which may indicate a natural curiosity to read about and experiment with new technologies. That curiosity and desire to "dig in" and learn something new indicates to me a trait that will be useful in analysis and design and may indicate someone who thinks outside the box in problem-solving. It also probably means that this person has a better grasp of the possibilities involved in alternative VFP OOP and/or nTier architectures than the developer stuck in Fox 2.6-style coding.

Now apply that view to a job interviewer who knows nothing about VFP and it's even more difficult to get through the door without additional tool knowledge and experience.