> > David, I think circumstances at some point in time, say even 10 or 15 > > years from now, will force MS to do *something* with the source code, > > either sell it or put it on the public domain. > > > > A triggering event might be the 1st time a VFP application stops > > working after a MS OS change. > > my take on recent announcements is that an OS change breaking > Foxpro was one of the few things that would have ms wheel YAG > and Calvin's bathchairs down to the office so they could fix it.
Andy, I think whatever really does happen is well off into the future, and that MS will probably behave as you say for some time to come. Even so, MS did start a clock ticking with this announcement because they covered one base, their plan for VFP's future, but left open the question of "what to do about new and existing VFP applications over the long haul?" MS's expectation, that everyone will throw away their VFP investments and start all over again with something nowhere near as good as VFP for what it does is nuts, so it's not going to happen. Moreover, since MS is not pulling VFP9 off the shelf, in addition to existing applications still being developed, new people and applications are still coming on board. I don't have stats, but my guess is that developing countries around the world are ideal candidates for what VFP is all about, and that situation represents a tremendous growth area for a product like VFP. In short, not only do I think MS has made an ignorant and stupid decision, but they have set the stage for big time repercussions down the road. That bite could be in the form of lawsuits when MS eventually breaks running VFP applications and a real solution must be offered, or it could be in the form of a competitor whose product offers a relatively inexpensive port from VFP. In effect, MS's end-of-VFP announcement is a call to arms for competitors who have been kept at bay by the VFP team over the years. The operative points here, I think, are that VFP is very, very good at what it does; that .NET is not a suitable replacement; that the royalty-free standard for this type of language/product is a stake in the ground that MS will never remove, and that not only is there a market for VFP, but a growing one. Going back to the beginning, it was Bill Gates' opting for the Basic over the xBase approach that set this struggle in motion. That was the root bad decision out of which all this came. Now MS apparently believes it can bury that decision once and for all, but its only going to find that you can't put genies back into bottles. At this point, I don't think it's reasonable to expect MS to reverse this bad decision, but it's entirely reasonable to expect that competitors who have been held down will get stronger over the next 10 years or so. Who knows, maybe something based on Python will attract serious investment money, build a pain free porting mechanic, and take MS on. Bill > Andrew Davies MBCS CITP > - AndyD 8-)# _______________________________________________ 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 ** 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.
