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Hi All,

Ever since I've been down here, I haven't been doing much FoxPro coding.? In fact some of the only fox code I've written down here was an effort to separate some tiers of an internet applicaton, and I actually removed some VFP code in favor of XSLT.? I've also used a lot of PERL, some Java, and much XSLT. This effort is wrapping up and I'm attempting reintegrate myself with VFP.? It's a lot like putting on your favorite sandals after a night out dancing in uncomfortable new shoes.

Here's a few thoughts I've been having.? Please comment on them:

- I wondered while I was away whether the whole world abandoned Fox.? You don't come across information about it casually, but as I've gone out looking it's reassuring to see that in fact it looks about as strong as ever (fwiw).?? The success of the WinE project won't guarantee VFP's future, however.? In my opinion, VFP will at some point have to be spun off either as an open-source project (unlikely) or sold to another developer if it ever wants to flourish as it once has.? Otherwise it will languish in its current role as the tool for enthusiasts and a necessary evil for those supporting legacy apps, but won't be picked up by newbies when they can use PHP/MySQL to write good enough apps.? Too bad, they'll never know how good they could have had it.? Efforts to kindle VFP with either WinE or, even better, an open-source clone of VFP will be interesting but ultimately unsuccessful.? I love the possible irony of an open-source clone sending Microsoft the way of Ashton-Tate.

- It was interesting to read about the demise and rebirth of FoxTalk magazine.? It looks like they're going to reduce their subscription price, which is great, and also get some content from Microsoft itself.

- There won't be any more Great Lakes Great Database Workshops (aka WhilFests), at least in their present form.? What conferences are you planning on going to?? With VFP 9 due out in the 2nd half of 2004, now would be a great time to get back to a conference.? I missed VFP8s' conferences and was thus unaware of the great ACTIVATE WINDOW puzzle command!

- The VFP team is blogging.? Check out .? It could also be retrieved as an RSS feed, which means we could add their blogs to our madfox.info site or even the VFP Toolbox.? Anybody done much tweaking of the toolbox?

That's all for now.?

Eric