Grigore,
> I am writing here the translation of the article. The article > does not respect exactly what I said in interview, but mostly > it does. Also, the translation is not perfect (sorry about > that). Please let me know what you think - your opinion is important. Some (many?) of us date back to the dBase III -> FoxBase progression. When MS bought FoxBase and made some impressive announcements regarding their plans for FoxBase, we were thrilled and jumped into re-writes from FoxBase to FPD and then VFP. But within a few years, some of us started smelling a rat as we watched MS's pitiful marketing of VFP. The lowest point, I think, was when word spread that Bill Gates told people attending a meeting that anyone who brought up FoxPro would be fired. Other reports and observations about the maltreatment of FoxPro were legion by this time, but all the while we could still read about MS's "good intentions" with VFP in the limited material they did provide. This created a confusing situation. On the one hand, MS's words sounded good, but on the other their actions spoken otherwise. Some of us got into heavy complaining over MS's treatment of FoxPro in the marketplace, but to company quite effectively ignored us. Now, years later, with the benefit of hindsight, it is clear that MS had been lying about their intentions for FoxPro from the beginning, and that their real plan was to buy and then kill the language. Those caught in the middle, the developers and businesses with investments in VFP, were, well, expendable. Now some people take the MS announcement there will be no version 10 to mean FoxPro is finally dead, but others (like myself) don't see it this way. I think that leaving the language alone, and letting people enhance it themselves (using itself) is the best way to go forward. VFPX is a good - great - example. VFP, as it is, is a good thing. Developers can spend years and years building great software with what VFP already does. Stuff I'm doing today is as advanced as anything I've ever been able to do, simply because I'm not wasting time on yet another forced re-write. It's amazing to see how good software can become once things are sorted out, tools and libraries are developed and nurtured, without the re-write sword over our heads. If this announcement relegates VFP's status to something like Latin, where it can be spoken forever by those who know it, but nobody wants to learn it, that's not a show-stopper. Our options include ignoring the subject and just continue as always. Worst case is that some number of years down the road it may be necessary to use VM to run an older version of Windows, which now includes Windows 7, to keep apps running. It's not that bad or a big deal considering that with hardware getting smaller and cheaper over time Another possibility is that, in a world that is getting crowded with developers seeking opportunities, there is a very good chance that some such enterprise see opportunity with VFP and create something that existing VFP apps can be ported to without a re-write. I think this will happen, just don't have a clue as to when. The last option I can think of is for folks with serious investments in VFP apps getting together to bring MS to court for what they've done, i.e. getting people to make long term investments in a product they intended to trash all along. MS will argue they provided plenty of time, but this is where the very nature of software dev languages makes this case different and unique. A language is something that's used to build systems over time, so for MS to say they gave people time to get out is like saying they sold the same people very long nooses, because any investment in a language MS intended to absorb and then drop was worthless from day 1. What does MS owe us now? I think it's to keep VFP9 apps running for the life of Windows. This is less dramatic then it seems, because there's already a good chance this compatibility will stay in place by default. Windows 7 is a high note for Windows releases, with some great reviews. It's unlikely that MS will throw this accomplishment away on some Windows 7+ re-write/gamble in the near future. MS's fortune is based on Windows and Office, and they would have little to gain by breaking existing applications and risking losing customers. One thing that affected VFP in a way nobody is mentioning: some people flocked from it to the Next Big Thing not because the next big thing was that much better, but because they had made a mess with VFP, and this was a great excuse to throw it away and start again. Conclusion: those of us who stick with VFP as our primary language will have little to worry about, and if MS does try to administer a death blow to existing VFP apps, we can use VM to continue while we take the matter to court. I don't know what laws are involved, but we do know that many people have invested heavily for years because they believed MS's lies, and that can't be legal. Bill _______________________________________________ Post Messages to: [email protected] Subscription Maintenance: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profox OT-free version of this list: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profoxtech Searchable Archive: http://leafe.com/archives/search/profox This message: http://leafe.com/archives/byMID/profox/47cb88aa55054ffaa2a4e8c703aca...@bills ** All postings, unless explicitly stated otherwise, are the opinions of the author, and do not constitute legal or medical advice. This statement is added to the messages for those lawyers who are too stupid to see the obvious.
