Why Microsoft Cancelled Visual FoxPro - Joel Leach FoxPro Blog

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Why Microsoft Cancelled Visual FoxPro
Published October 13, 2011 | By Joel Leach
For a while now, I have debated whether or not to post this entry. About six months ago, I wrote most of this article, then decided not to
post it. So yeah, I’m wishy‐washy on this one. Since then, Microsoft has put a lot of emphasis on HTML5 and introduced Windows 8 and
the Metro UI, leaving a lot of existing MS developers wondering about the future of their previous technology choices. With that in mind, I
think it's good to look at Microsoft’s treatment of VFP and how their decision processes work in regard to development tools.
Can you believe it has been over four years since Microsoft posted A Message to the Community and announced that Microsoft would cease
development on Visual FoxPro? It has been over three years since Microsoft released VFP9 SP2 and Sedna, and over six years since VFP
9.0 was released! While I was saddened that Microsoft chose to cancel VFP, I appreciated the sensitivity the Fox Team, particularly YAG,
showed to the Fox community. However, at the time, I wished Microsoft would have been more transparent and given a more thorough
explanation of their reasons for making that decision. YAG may have been constrained in what he could/should say in his position, and I
imagine there was some disagreement with the decision within the Fox Team, but those are just guesses. Regardless, we didn’t get an
official statement from Microsoft, other than it was happening, and the Fox community was left to piece together the reasons. That led to
comments like “writing on the wall”, “head in the sand” and conjecture on lack of sales vs. lack of marketing, etc. Ultimately, it comes
down to the fact that VFP was not a “strategic product” for Microsoft, but why was that and what does it mean? Answers lead to more
questions, but I think that is worth exploring.
Note that this blog entry is just more conjecture/opinion. I don’t have any more facts than you do. I am just putting all the pieces I have on
the table and building a picture. Over the past couple of years, I have debated whether or not to write this, because it is a negative subject
and obvious flamebait. But I think enough time has passed now and it could be a good thing. To move forward, you have to let go of the
past, and this has helped me do that. I still use VFP as my primary tool, but this has helped me “get over” Microsoft’s decision. It may also
be helpful in deciding where you want to go in the future. Now, I am in no way defending Microsoft or saying I agree with their decision. I
am just trying to understand why they would make a business decision to discontinue FoxPro. Statements here may be “obvious” or “old
news”, but I think it is helpful to pull it all together.
“Not a Strategic Product”
Enough disclaimers, let’s get to the subject at hand. Microsoft has stated for some time that FoxPro was not a strategic product for them.
What does that mean? To my mind, a strategic product is one that Microsoft would invest in heavily and recommend as the primary path for
their customers. MS would build upon the technology and form an entire “strategy” around it. VB was strategic. COM was strategic. .NET
is strategic. Fox was not. Why not? To answer that, I think you have to look at why Microsoft bought Fox Software in the first place.
Why Buy Fox?
So, why did Microsoft buy Fox Software. I will quote an article Jordan Powell wrote in FoxTalk when Access 1.0 and FoxPro 2.5 were
about to ship:
Microsoft was working on its Access DBMS which uses a modern variant of the BASIC language. It had to have been embarrassing for
Microsoft to have such a glaring hole in its product lineup. They had no DBMS, and their partnership with AshtonTate failed to get
Microsoft SQL Server off the ground. Some of the marketing types at MS realized that FoxPro was the best version of XBase out there, and
had been trying to talk Bill Gates into doing something about it. They knew that the XBase language commanded a huge segment of the
market and that a product which used the XBase language would get them into the DBMS market in a big way. They had the marketing
resources to put behind FoxPro, and Fox had some interesting and useful technology not to mention some very talented people, the kind
Microsoft likes.
More recently, Ken Levy wrote the following in his blog:
The purchase of Fox Software for $173 million in 1992 was very strategic for Microsoft, and was the biggest corporate purchase Microsoft
had ever made up until that time. Borland had purchased AstonTate’s which included dBase III and IV, and had Paradox. And growing in
popularity at the time was PowerBuilder as the king of client/server tools, with Sybase releasing PowerBuilder 12 last year ironically based
on the free Visual Studio Shell runtime. Microsoft needed three things from the Fox Software deal – the Fox developer team, the Fox
technology, and the customer market share of FoxPro/FoxBase. Microsoft was just starting work on Access and it was more targeting
power users, but there was still some overlap. Visual Basic was still in its early days.
Basically, Microsoft wanted a stronger presence in the database market and they were in severe need of database products, people, and
technology. Fox Software was a perfect fit for them. To give you a little more context, in 1992 the xBase market was still booming, Access
(Cirrus) was still in development, Visual Basic 1.0 had been released and VB 2.0 was in development, and the first release of SQL Server
for Windows was not until 1993.
I think if you asked anyone “in the know” at Microsoft, they would tell you that the Fox acquisition was a resounding success (unlike other
much more expensive acquisitions that Microsoft has recently dumped). They got a solid product, key technology that made its way into
several other products, and valuable people that went on to take major roles in the company. Why then did FoxPro not share that level of
success? I do not believe Microsoft had malicious plans to kill FoxPro from the beginning, but the landscape had changed, as it tends to do
in technology. The xBase market declined.
xBase Market Decline
FoxPro was first and foremost a competitor in the xBase market. As that market declined, so did the value of FoxPro as a strategic product
to Microsoft. What led to the decline of a technology that had been so popular in the 80’s and early 90’s? Technology trends are constantly
changing, but here are few key things that in my opinion diminished the xBase market:
dBASE IV: dBASE IV was a buggy disaster, and it was two years before they released version 1.1. Borland bought AshtonTate, but could
not undo the damage. dBASE for Windows was not released until 1994. This was good for FoxPro, which became the biggest fish in the
xBase pond, but the pond itself began to shrink.
Lawsuit: AshtonTate sued Fox Software for cloning dBASE. The suit was dropped when Borland bought AshtonTate, but it could not
have inspired confidence in the xBase market.
ClientServer: By the early 90’s, clientserver technology picked up in popularity and developers were beginning to flock towards database
servers and clientserver development tools like PowerBuilder and VB. At the same time, Microsoft was trying to enter the server market
with Windows NT and SQL Server, so I’m sure there was strong emphasis on this style of development from them. I believe there was talk
of a “FoxServer” product at Fox Software, but it never saw the light of day before the Microsoft acquisition.
Those are reasons that the xBase market declined, but about now you’re thinking that VFP is so much more than an xBase tool. I couldn’t
agree more. VFP can go toetotoe with VB, PowerBuilder, Delphi, .NET, and others. If FoxPro was supposed to “go quietly into the
night”, someone forgot to tell the VFP 3.0 team, because they transformed the Fox into a fullfledged OOP development platform ready for
the 32bit world and beyond. So, why wasn’t the emphasis there from Microsoft?
An important point to make about Microsoft is that they are a follower of development trends, not a leader. With a few exceptions (the VB
GUI designer comes to mind), Microsoft has not been the one to create a development trend. “Embrace and extend” was their motto, and
they have done well with that. Windows was Microsoft’s answer to the Mac. .NET is Microsoft chasing Java into the enterprise. They
follow current trends and they do so mercilessly. Even now, Microsoft is emphasizing HTML5, leaving Silverlight developers thinking
“Wait, I thought we were on the cutting edge?” It would be out of character for Microsoft to promote and strategize around a product built
for a market that was trending downwards. It’s nothing personal against the Fox, it’s just not in their DNA.
FoxPro Market Decline
Even with the xBase decline, if FoxPro revenue had continued upward, I wouldn’t be writing this article. Sales declined, and there are
several reasons for that:
Power Users: Going all the way back to dBASE you could question whether it was a platform for power users with development
capabilities or a platform for developers that power users could use. It was both. Visual FoxPro put it squarely in the developer category,
and Access took over as the preferred database for power users. The result: much fewer licenses sold.
VB, SQL Server, .NET: VFP faced a lot of competition from other products within Microsoft. With the emphasis always on the latest
trends, many developers felt compelled to move to other technologies.
Visual FoxPro: That’s right, VFP itself. While VFP 3.0 was a massive improvement in development capabilities (and most of us are happy
with that decision), it was also a big leap from FoxPro 2.x in terms of learning curve. It took some developers quite a while to make the
jump, and some never did.
Not Invented Here Syndrome: Microsoft took a great product and made it even better, which makes their treatment of FoxPro all the more
frustrating. But Fox was still the stepchild and it was never going to supersede other products developed internally. By the time Microsoft
purchased Fox, they had already made significant investments in VB, Access, and SQL Server. Those would be Microsoft’s strategic
products while Fox would continue serving the declining xBase market and otherwise fit between the lines.
Why 2007?
People had been foretelling the death of FoxPro since Microsoft bought it in 1992. What made 2007 the year when Microsoft finally
decided to cancel it? Had sales declined to the point that Microsoft could no longer justify Fox development? Did they want to use the Fox
Team in other parts of Microsoft? Did big customers move to something else? Were the people that cared gone or no longer in a position to
do anything about it? Your guess is as good as mine. We will never know.
There are a couple of ways to look at this: 1) Microsoft always wanted to cancel Fox and they finally got their way, or 2) in spite of Fox not
being a strategic product, Microsoft continue to create new versions for Fox developers. I tend to think of it as the latter. While there was
always a question of Microsoft’s commitment to FoxPro, by the release of VFP 5, it had become clear that it would not be a strategic
product. Per Ken Levy’s blog:
In the initial years after the Fox Software merger, Microsoft put a huge effort and lots of resources into creating VFP 3.0. There were about
50 people on the Fox team with a big marketing budget. In the following years, both Access and VB grew in market share and also
competed in ways with the VFP market (and messaging), and by the time VFP 5.0 was released, many upper managers wanted Microsoft to
just end VFP there. In fact, they did for a short time. I was there, in a meeting with 40 people, and the formal announcement was made to
the Fox team that VFP was dead. It was very early 1996, and that meeting lead to the Gartner Group releasing their report that VFP was
dead, which had a major impact on future VFP sales.
Most of Microsoft’s competitors would have ended it right there and VFP 5 would have been the last version. So, the real question isn’t
“Why 2007?”, it’s “Why not 1996?”. Ken Levy continues:
But the Fox team members along with the community helped convince the developer tools management to keep VFP evolving while
decreasing the resources. In fact, the primary reason VFP lasted another decade with 4 more versions released was more about Windows
sales than VFP sales. There are many Windows machines running VFP apps. When Steve Ballmer jumps around like monkey boy and yells
"developers, developers, developers", he’s thinking about selling Windows and Office more than sales of developer tools.
If VFP 5 had been the last version, then I may have never had the joy of working with Visual FoxPro, because I really didn’t make the jump
from FoxPro 2.x until version 6.0. In fact, I’m not sure where I’d be today, as I took my current job back in 2000 to upgrade a Fox 2.x app
to VFP. So, I’m definitely thankful Microsoft saw fit to continue development.
That said, Microsoft’s handling of VFP support since the announcement has been appalling. VFP 9 SP2 introduced several bugs. After
months of begging, we were able to get them to fix one key bug, but others remain that will never be fixed and must be worked around.
Microsoft claims that VFP is supported until 2015, but I’m sorry, that’s not support. To be clear, I’m not blaming the Fox Team for this.
I’m blaming Microsoft for the fact that there was no Fox Team and management was unwilling to provide resources to fix these problems.
Real support ended when the Fox Team was disbanded and assigned to other projects.
So, what now? That’s the big question Fox developers are asking themselves or have already answered. I don’t know about you, but I
continue to be extremely busy with Visual FoxPro as my primary development tool. I also keep tabs on new technologies as they are
introduced with an eye towards how they could benefit me. Maybe that will be the subject of a future post.
Posted in FoxPro
93 Responses to Why Microsoft Cancelled Visual FoxPro
Arden Weiss says:
February 17, 2012 at 2:03 am
Why wouldone support VFP when you can sell a copy of Access to every user while selling only one copy of VFP to each developer
— a no brainer from marketeer Balmer’s point of view.
Reply
Michael says:
October 18, 2013 at 7:21 pm
The canonical reason for this has always been that Foxpro apps sold copies of windows, not copies of the IDE
Reply
Erik says:
July 8, 2012 at 5:43 pm
Hi, just ran into this randomly, but for heaven’s sake, punctuate. We’ve been doing it for centuries. We’re taught to do it in grade
school. It’s done for a reason (easier to read) and even it wasn’t it makes you look lazy and sloppy. Have you considered what a
potential employer googling your name would think of this?
Reply
Joel Leach says:
Earlier this year, the blog was converted from Foxite’s internal system to WordPress, and this is the result. I haven’t had a
chance to fix it.
Reply
Barnabas says:
October 24, 2012 at 2:30 am
I have been a vfp developer since 1997, and the cancellation of vfp by microsoft pains me. To me developers be it of vfp or any other
platform are always left orphaned wen such cancellation happen, bearing in mind that they have big applications developed on this
plaforms that are running out there and it will take more than time and money to convert the to new platforms.
Reply
JC says:
Thanks Joel, your reasoning of events is sound as I always felt MS just wanted to cannibalize the Fox engine for SQL. I cringe
everytime I have to write code outside VFP to handle what VFP can do in a few lines of code. If anyone is using or has found a
suitable alternative they like, please post here. We continue to use VFP 9 and MSSQL, but the trend is to move to .Net. I started
using QuickBasic in the day, then VB – to talk to barcode systems – but neither were ever really intended to do heavy database
development, nor was Access – Microsoft has done a disservice to the development community by axing VFP and wish Fulton never
sold it to them. Sadly, no one has taken up the baton to carry it forward, so excellent source code and a cherished developer tool dies
on the vine, while most of my colleagues have moved to Java. My two cents.
Reply
Jimmy Ho says:
November 17, 2012 at 1:57 pm
dBASE was first exposed to me almost 30 years ago (in early 1980s). I have been developing PC applications for over 20 years using
dBASE, FoxPro and VFP5. I regret that Microsoft has not developed anything for me (or any other VFP developer) to convert or at
least help convert a VFP application into another language. As Microsoft Office continues to evolve, my VFP5based applications are
no longer compatible with Office 2007 and beyond. I can no longer invoke an Excel worksheet and send data to it. Can anyone tell me
whether this problem can be solved if I upgrade my VFP5 to VFP9?
Now that the PC market is shrinking, Microsoft Access and VB will soon become “Not a Strategic Product”. I hope someone will port
the VFP engine to the Android system so all my previous application systems can be ported to Android platform.
Reply
Jimmy Ho says:
March 11, 2015 at 7:49 am
Since then, I have tried VFP 9 SP2 with Office 2010. The problem seemed to disappear.
Reply
Geovanny F says:
March 25, 2015 at 12:50 pm
Yes, keep VFP alive.
Reply
Russell says:
March 14, 2013 at 8:20 pm
Lianja.com or AlphaSoftware.com – but you may have discovered these already.
Reply
Oswald Petersen says:
April 15, 2013 at 4:10 am
Hi Joel
thanks for this article, which makes a lot of sense.
I have been a Foxpro developer for 20 years, and I plan to stay a Foxpro developer for another 10 years. I have converted one of my
projects from VFP to .Net, but will refrain from doing so with the other, big projects I work on. Why? Isn’t Foxpro obsolete? Isn’t it
time to jump the ship? I used to think that myself but I don’t anymore. The problem is, of course, that VFP is not being developed any
further by MSFT (or whoever), and there are other, more modern products. But I have made a journey through the main ‘other’
products. I have looked at .Net, Java, C++/QT, and also at pure HTML5/Javascript products. In Java, QT, .Net the problem is the
same: Nothing much happening anymore regarding desktop applications. It all may become ‘obsolete’, just like VFP. So why bother?
The only promising tools I found are Node/HTLM5,Javascript/CSS tools. Also for desktop applications. That seems to be ‘the future’.
But it is too early now to embrace this technology. Wait some years, then look again.
When I look at my .Net/C#/Winforms program, which replaced the former VFP program, I must say, VFP is much more efficient. In
.Net I need about 5 times as much code as in VFP to accomplish the same. And: The .Net program is now about as ‘modern’ as my
VFP applications. It is, in fact, outdated, 2 years after it was rolled out.
Also I don’t believe anymore that MSFT will ‘kill’ VFP in one of the next Windows versions. Win8 is a desaster, and MSFT will
refrain from giving up any established technology which supports Windows. VFP and VB6 (and all the other 32bit apps) will be
supported for many years. The hype about handheld phones replacing fully sized computers will die down, because it is just not
possible to do that. MSFT might even come back to VFP, but I don’t predict that.
Today VFP is still the best tool for database desktop applications in Windows if you use it with SQL Server in the backend. That’s
easy to do, and gives you a robust technology which will run on Windows for many years. Of course I would love to change to a
technology that really promises more future than VFP. But my impression is that that technology just does not exist yet.
My 2 cents…
Oswald
Reply
Julian Rebiga says:
November 15, 2013 at 5:42 pm
Yes, the technology does not exist yet, and a SQL is easy to hack. Light Switch is way behind the VFP 9 technology. I’m
developing web applications and iPhone/iPad apps, however I’m using VFP tables to run this apps. They supposed to make
VFP.Net, and I think for not doing they are putting at risk many large companies that switch to SQL. I’m repeating, SQL data is
easy to hack compare to a local data (VFP ORACLE)
Reply
Ashraf Sada says:
May 1, 2013 at 5:19 pm
Hi everyone, I am using VFP9 and I frankly tried to switch to the new Era, by trying MySQL and even SQL Server, but very frankly i
find VFP much more powerful in terms of an effective relational database that you can link to as a developer from any other RAD or
GUI development tool to create your user interface to make modern looking and appealing.
In the regard of discontinuing FoxPro, I suggest for a class of world wide developers to take the responsibility to handle the
development of VFP on their own, like what Delphi developers did in Lazarus (Free Delphi RAD).
Reply
Elijah says:
May 4, 2013 at 8:28 am
Thanks Joel for this most informative piece. There is a proverb: THE FARTHER BACKWARDS WE LOOK, THE FARTHER
FORWARDS WE SEE! In light of all the .NET development and the cancellation of Fox by MS, your article is a resource to anyone
who wants to think next 5 – 10 years as to what’s most workable presently or in due course.
Again, thanks a bundle! .
Reply
Stuart Green says:
July 30, 2013 at 7:06 pm
The things I miss most about FoxPro were there very early: the Command Window, the data browser and the desktop. I think it’s just
a cognitive coordination thing but those three features made the difference to me. When I look for a replacement for FoxPro those are
the things I am looking for first and I am not finding it. For example, the Visual Studio Command Window is a weak thing.
The language used doesn’t matter too much to me. I went so far as to have Fox run Perl statements from the command window and
display the results on the desktop as if they were Fox commands. Limited success but imagine the power Maybe a better
programmer could do better.
I hope some of the developers describing themselves as what Foxpro should have become take note. If so, please study these 3
elements carefully. A lot of thought was put into making them, I’m sure.
Reply
jojo villareal says:
August 8, 2013 at 3:21 am
hello guys! good day! to all of you there, I was working as an instructor of computer subjects and i taught programming and i used
Foxpro for 13 years, because it is a user friendly IDE and easy to understand the code, its object, SQL, and the organization of panels
are pretty understandable and it has the advantage on vb with access, html. because, it incorporates them at once Foxpro, there is
database, SQL, programming software, with shell and GUI i mean Excellent software created on earth…. but it gives me pain. when
microsoft discontinue the product….
the idea i think, microsoft wanted to be monopoly the software development thanks to the open source, i will shift to them.
Reply
Victor CK Hui (Hong Kong) says:
August 16, 2013 at 1:46 am
Hi guys,
I am an Xbase developer from dbase III plus. I am still using VFP 9.0 now. Xbase language +foxpro data cursor is perfect match to fit
most of my supporting clients are small business. Our clients are using a simple file server and under 20 PCs in a small LAN. I have
tried in diff solution to fit our clients requirments, such as HTML +CSS +SQL +PDF, .NET +crystal report +SQL, ACCESS +SQL,
JAVA…etc. Those of them are too much ‘addon’ parties; I think why not all in one solution. ‘Program code compiler +report writer
+quick data handler +input form +simple programming language’, much expected! I tried unix FOX 2.X, it is very great in text mode,
it is free to under now. Therefore, I am looking forward to an open source VFP in coming years.
Victor
Reply
Andy Jordan says:
September 8, 2013 at 8:43 am
Hi Guys,
I am a Foxpro developer, as I have been since 1991. I have had my grounding in dBase 111 Plus, Foxpro For Dos from 2.0 to 2.6,
Visual Foxpro 6,7,8 and now 9. Visual Foxpro 6.0 and 9.0 are the best of the group by far.
I continue to develop and use the product with other engines like MySql.
I intend to push foxpro to the limit and create data storage linkages with other engines using foxpro as the application development
environment and report generation engine. Foxpro 9.0 has the capacity to allow for the creation of classes to provide functionality for
crossplatform access and manipulation.
Reply
Crosswired says:
Just wanted to thank you for the great write up. I have finally been able to sleep at night since I stopped supporting all those named
vendors. I retired in 2009 and have not missed a single day of the confusion and frustration brought about by the product support
supplied by the various vendors of dbms. I am sure there is a special place in Hell reserved just and justly for them. Thanks for the trip
down memory lane.
4 thoz hu komplane ’bout speling an such: Who made you perfect?
Reply
Ben says:
November 3, 2013 at 8:35 am
Is it still possible to get hold of VFP?
Reply
Joel Leach says:
If you mean “can you still buy VFP?”, the answer is yes. Ask on the Universal Thread or your favorite forum for reliable places
to purchase, or you can find plenty on Google. Versions 79 are also still included in an MSDN subscription.
Reply
Manoj Perera says:
December 11, 2013 at 4:07 am
Hi All,
It is really desperated while sometimes ago when i heard the discontinuation of services to VFP by MS. I am too a VFP lover in a long
time run. My concern really matter when connecting to SQL server, which i had to code extra lines. Guys, can’t we make a VFP
community to bring this message to MS as a matter of restructuring and to see if any updates or a new version of VFP to be launched
to MSVS.
I think, it is really a point of proper message delivery to broadband MICROSOFT to turn a very new page of VFP version change.
My best regards,
Manoj Perera
Reply
Tom Slayton says:
January 17, 2014 at 8:30 pm
I have been developing in VFP since the 90′s and I made a point to upgrade to every new version that MS released. I have also gone
down the need to switch path b/c MS stopped development. I tried, Java/VB.NET/PHP and used MySQL/MS SQL. I have circled
back to VFP every time. I am a database applications developer and there still to this day is no better tool than Visual FoxPro to
develop our applications in. For modern interfaces check out ActiveVFP on VFPx CodePlex it is easy to setup and it allows you to
target all of the new devices using VFP.
Very Best,
Tom
Reply
Peter Fisher says:
March 4, 2014 at 1:59 pm
My path through database land: CCA, Omnis, dBase3+, Clipper Summer87, VFP6, VFP9, Postgres, now reluctantly SQLServer. A
small VFP6 system I developed in 1999 is still running. Today, after being retired for 4 years I went back to that old place to find it
alive and well. In need of a few tweaks to be fair. For example VFP6 will only export 16000 ish records in xls format. Soon fixed by
subdividing and filtering a huge archive table that had been growing like topsy for 15 years. In my defence, a ‘better’ system had been
on the horizon for a decade but never arrived to improve on my bespoke solution. When it finally does I can be confident that all that
preserved data can be unlocked with ease from an industry standard file format – but for how much longer?
I recently reengineered a system of mine from VFP9 to VB.NET. Why? Because of future maintainability and, it must be said,
because its a nonprofit making application and cooperative development on a shoestring is cheaper using the free Express offerings.
Faced with needing to RAD a data heavy appplication in record time I’d still choose VFP but, like parts of the anatomy “everybody
has an ******* and Excel.” A pal in my motorcycle club even heroically developed a serial comms driven timing results application
in Excel. I thought of redoing it in VFP but sadly decided to go with the flow and VB. Give me a huge text file of data in even only
vaguely structured form though and I’ll still turn to VFP9 to parse it into something meaningful.
Reply
Flair says:
March 10, 2014 at 2:11 pm
Microsoft counted on your loyalty to them. That is why they decided to discontinue VFP. Why are we discussing moving to .NET an
inferior product to VFP9 for desktop application and database development, when they are cancelling their very own Microsoft VFP.
Switch to Oracle or some other company if you want to send them the message of keeping VFP. I for one always recommend non
Microsoft products to customers. Anything from databases to software development packages I tell them don’t choose MS, and I tell
them about VFP. You would be surprised at how many developers don’t know the VFP MS story. If a company screws you over don’t
bow to them and buy there next product. I use both the products, VFP was an A+ compared to the D .NET PRODUCT. VFP did
things in 2 lines that in .net you have to save a file for and code. It was an intergrated database, forms, and reports package all in one.
In all my years I never have seen a better product for computer science than VFP and MS discontinued it. Like the Xbox vs PS switch
if you want to get there attention don’t stay MS or they will do it to you again.
Reply
mark says:
March 13, 2014 at 3:56 am
I came across this searching for vfp 9 service pack 2, microsofts site was not responding. Glad to see its still active. I have worked
with Foxpro since’s its inception back in what the mid 80′s. I worked as a system programmer for a manufacturing company that had
written their whole operations system in Foxpro for Dos. which if windows 7 would run, I would still be using. Plain and simple
foxpro worked and worked well. The version for Unix died pretty quickly, back in the 90′s I was a consultant for another
manufacturing company that was Unix based and hired me to rewrite their mail order system. Loved the developers conference in San
Diego when Microsoft introduced version 3.0… Boy was that a big deal, met some great people there. I went on to work for a data
management company and there was no other options in our opinion. I still can get foxpro for windows to work under XP mode in
windows 7 when I need something that I find easier to do in the older version, but 9 is my normal day to day db. I do work in the
direct mail industry and you constantly manipulate/format raw data for addressing & variable printing and I cannot think of any other
product that would even work this way. Some like the junk they call access, I have never been able to stand it. Even our current
mailing software is borland dbase engine driven..! has been for years. It is a shame that somebody can’t come out with a product that
is close to what even foxpro was let alone visual. I purchased Alpha and yes it works but I’m addicted to the command window and
the ability to do everything interactive and require thinking….. guess I am a dying breed.. !
Reply
Nick says:
March 30, 2014 at 7:12 pm
After many years developing in the dBase III / FP / VFP world, I semiretired about 4 years back. A couple of years back, a call from
a large company got me back into the workforce, as they had inherited an old DOS FP 2.5 app, which no one understood. Fortunately
for me, the app, written back in the mid 80′s resembles a version of SBT Accounting, which I cut my coding teeth on, way back then.
While a decision to replace this app is still underway, I continue to keep this old girl ticking away (it has it temperamental moments,
with new versions of Windows. But, we manage to keep things moving).
So, while the Fox maybe dead, the legacy continues….and continues to pay well
From a programming perspective, VFP 9 was (and is still) a great OO language to work with. I’ve dabbled in others, but, like others
have mentioned, the richness of the VFP language allows one to do things in a handful of lines, whereas .NET and others, require a lot
more involvement. For a small to mid sized business, VFP caters well as a desktop app.
Reply
Delbert McCord says:
April 30, 2014 at 12:30 am
I love to see others still running some DOS applications. I am not a developer per say. I learned enough to keep a SBT system
going my employer purchased. And when the hardware cash registers we purchased for way more money than they should have
been died I wrote our cash register program and we are still using it today.
I am being forced now to upgrade to Windows 7 32 bit and my Dos Foxpro software works just fine in it. I had a little problem
with some of the Windows Software I wrote in Visual FoxPro5 when I did the change to Windows 7 but with the help of good
people on forums I got it all ironed out.
I even found a piece of software from Italy that works great to capture the LPT out put to a windows printer and it works Great.
Its called Printfil and they have a website at Printfil.com. I am not involved with them in any way other than being a customer!
I wanted to say Thank You to all you developers that take the time to post stuff for us end users who are just keeping our old
stuff running.
I was reading that VFP9 has some bugs, If I was thinking of getting a newer version before they are all gone would I be wise
getting VFP6 and staying away from VFP9?
Reply
Joel Leach says:
April 30, 2014 at 8:19 am
Delbert,
It’s hard to say what an upgrade would mean for your app, but for those of us using VFP9, it is clearly the best version
and the most compatible version with Windows moving forward. It would be more accurate to say that VFP9 SP2
introduced a few bugs. That’s disappointing, but I wouldn’t call any of them showstoppers. One or two have been fixed
via hotfix, for others we have workarounds.
Reply
Fred Hunt says:
April 3, 2014 at 12:29 pm
Like some of the other contributors, I retired a couple of years ago having grown from dBase 2/3/3+ to VFP6 via 3 and 5. Most of my
systems are still running without problems. I recently tried to extend a bookingin system in VFP6 using my windows 8 based laptop
and had problems trying to change the frame size, so back to my old XP machine (also now no longer supported). ‘Buy a new version
of VFP’ I thought then I came across all the comments about MS stopping further development. Is it worth buying VFP9 anyway,
does it run properly under Windows 8? How much is it and where can I get it?
Fred Hunt
Reply
Joel Leach says:
April 3, 2014 at 10:43 pm
Fred,
You might first visit one of the FoxPro forums such as Universal Thread, Foxite, and others to see if they can recommend a
solution to your problem with VFP 6. VFP 9 is definitely the best version of FoxPro, while retaining backwards compatibility,
so it should run your existing code with few if any changes. VFP 9 SP2 included changes for better compatibility with Vista,
which means it also runs better on Windows 7 & 8. My VFP apps run fine on Windows 8.
VFP 9 is available in MSDN, but otherwise you can no longer purchase it directly from Microsoft. Google turns up several
other vendors that sell it, although I find the legitimacy of some online resellers questionable. I’d visit a FoxPro forum to ask
for a reliable source.
Reply
Arthur Bosua says:
April 11, 2014 at 3:12 pm
Hi All,
32bit is coming to an end and so it seems is my VFP. I have several clients across the country that have been using my software for
more than 20 years. Virus protection is also vanishing into oblivion and the hype is for 64bit and cloud. I have to find an alternative
and rewrite Accounting and Points of Sale systems.
Win8.1(x64) does not allow me to install VFP9 and I one has to work with two networked desktops next to each other to assist in the
translation process. The keyboards and mouses (mice) are forever in the wrong place. It is a nightmare!
Yes, I am also retired and over 65 and have moved from Basic (on the BIOS with 48kb RAM/16kb Static and EMM’s that pushed it
up to 640kb) and NATURAL/ADABAS. I eventually got stuck on VFP and have been in love ever since.
I fear that I will die before I can make the transition into the .NET environment and it saddens me that a lifetime of effort and pride
may be coming to an abrupt end.
I herewith salute all my fellow VFP developers and I share your enthusiasm for the product which was well ahead of it’s time.
RIP
Reply
Joel Leach says:
April 11, 2014 at 3:23 pm
Arthur,
Thanks for your comment. I’m not sure what your particular issue is, but I am able to run VFP 9 on Windows 8.1 x64 with no
problems. I know 16bit DOS/Windows apps no longer run on 64bit machines, unless you run them inside a 32bit VM like
Windows XP mode. 32bit apps should run fine though. You might visit one of the FoxPro forums to see if your issue can be
resolved.
Reply
Gary S. Kraft says:
May 5, 2014 at 1:50 am
I learned to program with FoxPro 2.5 for windows back in 1993. I still have the 600+ page textbook although it’s mostly falling apart.
I stayed with it all the way to VFP 7.0 but about 6 years ago I decided to get my MCSD.NET and ended up getting work with C#.
Along the way I learned SQL Server and HTML, CSS and a little javascript.
Then about 5 years ago I started a company and got very serious about the Cloud using Amazon AWS. I managed to master JQuery
and CSS3 and I’m now splitting my time between C#, Java for Android, JQuery, CSS and MySQL/SQL Server.
I am extremely comfortable in all the above technologies but I can EASILY EASILY EASILY say that Visual FoxPro was the
absolute best development environment ever. It blew away VB 6.0 and access is a sad joke of a database. I worked projects with
VB/Access 15 years ago and it actually enraged me that it was more popular than VFP.
I lost faith in VFP when it did not embrace the internet. I learned ASP and then ASP.NET and I would have loved to have seen what
VFP could have done with web development had the team been given their druthers.
Quite honestly I believe Visual FoxPro could have changed the world had it been embraced by Microsoft wholeheartedly. These days
I am in and out of databases and IDEs and this and that and it’s fine. I feel like I’m in the thick of things and I can express myself in
many languages. It also helps that the past year or so has really seen web development technologies get easier thanks in part to
Chrome, Firefox and IE 10.
Web development was nightmarish if only because the tools for developers were so god awful but that is no longer the case. We now
have NoSQL for infinitely scaling simple data and fairly decent front end tools. I am no big fan of ASP.NET and I do all my web
development using HTML & JQuery. In fact I try to do just about everything clientside these days. And I try to stay away from
MySQL/SQL Server as much as possible. I’m not always successful but I like to scale infinitely and database sharding is a nightmare
and that was one of the things that bothered me about VFP. It could not handle big data.
I didn’t really mind using SQL Server as a VFP backend but I just always wondered what a VFP Server could have been like.
Probably glorious if they could have maintained the language; particularly in stored procedures. I still use VFP from time to tie
whenever I have to clean up dirty data or the like and it is AMAZING how fast my fingers will start pumping out code. I still
remember all the syntax (well my fingers do anyway).
I am glad I made the transition away from VFP when I did as I got to finally get into heavy web development which I felt sheltered
from in my VFP days. The web was sexy and well desktop database development; not so much. Well at least VFP was a contender. I
think everyone who was lucky enough to have a long run in VFP must have done something right in a past life because VFP just had
so much good karma.
Goodbye VFP! I still miss you.
Reply
John Stephen says:
June 9, 2014 at 10:32 pm
Thank you Joel and all other contributors.
I graduated from Basic to Foxpro for DOS Version 1 and have updated through every version since right up to Version 9. While I am
fearful from time to time at 70 years old I have decided to hope for the best and continue without trying to rewrite my rather large
accounting program in a new language. Looking at the abysmal raft of alternatives out there I don’t think would make it before I pass
on. So far it runs fine on every Windows version produced right up to Windows 8.1 and I am hopeful that the times Microsoft have
been burned by dumb decisions (Word having no backward compatibility and neglecting the Start button in Windows will keep
them offering backward compatibility for a few years yet.
I am also hopeful someone will build a compiler down the track.
Reply
Igor says:
July 2, 2014 at 4:32 am
Bye, bye VFP you give me best day codeing. Divorce happens time to time. We all got one. So dont cry. You got your money back (I
hope) when you sold your first application. Now find young “women” (like JavaFX) and ride again. Who wont to know how your EX
wife looks 20 years ago. Make new produts with new “women” and enjoy your children (VFP aplication you made). However, free
shooters (in programming) must become soldiers of big corporations. FRAMEWORKS OR LIBRARIES is the name of ” I dont know
what is inside but I know when I put something what come out” . TRANSPARENT – you know someone else know (who is someone
else). Nothing is in love but it is in controling. If I need to choose to pay and be observed or got something for free and be observed, I
choose for free. So try to avoid Microsoft to be father of your wife. Thing is with tool like VFP you can create closed aplication
system with nn computers and be unreachable to outside world. All new tools need to “update” need to be in internet. We want see
what you doing. So you can be “WE” or you can be “OTHER”. May be I produce sh… in the text above or may be I am not “THEY”
know.
Thanks, E = M * C * C or not?
Reply
Rowan says:
Igor, you’re very clever.
Reply
about time says:
July 2, 2014 at 1:46 pm
You have to be kidding. The average age of the people replying is 50+.
MS Access can do anything Foxpro can do and uses a real language.
Foxpro was never a real language. It was created so nonprogrammers could meet a goal. As was Access.
It has a terrible IDE, and a nonstandard way of doing everything. That was why it died.
Reply
Joel Leach says:
July 2, 2014 at 2:50 pm
The comments today aren’t exactly typical, to say the least. I don’t know whether this one is flame bait or just a difference of
opinion, so I’m treating it as the latter. Yes, some of us have been around a while, but wisdom, experience, and maturity
probably aren’t the traits you are emphasizing. Of course, I’ll have to disagree on the “real language” statement. Access indeed
became the database tool for power users. Visual FoxPro was then created as a complete objectoriented development
environment, even included in Visual Studio for a while, and stood toe to toe with VB6, Delphi, PowerBuilder, and other
desktop development platforms of its time. It is definitely different than those other platforms, which can cause hostility from
those that find themselves maintaining an old FoxPro app in an unfamiliar environment. For those of us experienced with the
Fox, it is a special mix of features that hasn’t been replicated elsewhere. However, as I watch history repeat itself around me,
I’m sure one day something similar will come around again touted as the next big thing.
Reply
Mike Towle says:
Actually, YOU have to be kidding? MS Access uses BASIC, as in Beginners Allpurpose Symbolic Instruction Code. It was
originally designed for people to learn the basics of programming. It was never intended to be used for any serious commercial
coding. It, along with Access, have survived because Bill Gates loved BASIC. No other reason.
I’ve been developing software since 1979. Have used them all. Various assembly languages, Access, BASIC (various), C,
Cobol, dBase (various), Pascal, RPG, VB, and more, and as we moved into this century: HTML, PHP, Java, etc. In all that time,
I’ve found THE best tool for developing desktop applications by a long way is Visual Foxpro 9. Nothing has ever come close,
and there’s still nothing out there to compare with it, sadly.
Reply
Md. Musleh Uddin says:
April 10, 2015 at 10:56 pm
“It has a terrible IDE, and a nonstandard way of doing everything. That was why it died.” You can not do everything in non
standard way. You have to have some standard. And VFP deserve it!.
Reply
John Koziol says:
July 30, 2014 at 9:43 pm
As one of the last Fox Team members I can state with authority that VFP died because it was a distraction from the strategic direction
MS set for development tools, mainly .Net. It was due to die after VFP 7 but VFP 8 was approved and I honestly can’t recall who
pulled that off. VFP 9 was approved due to heroic efforts by Levy and Randy Brown and some of the rest of us . After 9 we were told
categorically there would never be a 10 but we could look into ways of extending 9 as long as we didn’t crack the core binaries.
Everyone in our food chain loved the product. We had team members who had never seen VFP before joining MS that became rabid
fans. But it became harder and harder to get MS to commit the resources. It became a political liability for middle and upper
management to support the product.
Ken Levy and Randy Brown tried very hard to continue VFP; they really put their necks out. YAG was compromised in what he
could support. And it was not to be. This is part of the reason I left the team in July 2005.
Reply
Thierry Nivelet says:
Great post, John, Thanks
Reply
Prosanta says:
August 7, 2014 at 5:42 am
I love VFP. Still now I am using it.
Reply
Manoj kalla says:
August 15, 2014 at 2:40 am
Dear All,
Everyone knows —> “Nobody live on this earth forever” but Microsoft should not kill VFP / FOXPRO with sweet poison.
What happen to all Blindly lover of VFP?
Myself forcefully migrate to .NET, what we can do?
But still doing something on VFP, But VFP will goes in REST for forever.
From this incident, I learned We should have at least one open source language in our hand.
Thanks All,
Reply
Paul Oxley says:
Hi All
I have been using Xbase since the late 80′s then to Foxbase,Pro from the 90′s. I still use VFP mainly because I can’t find a suitable
replacement that comes anywhere near.
If you are till using Foxpro take a look at http://www.alaskasoftware.co.uk. They successfully converted clipper developers and
Xbase++ will soon be 100% VFP compatible and will compile 64 bit applications with .net and web combatibility
Please see below a recent email from Alaska. ps I have no affiliate with this company. Just a Foxpro programmer looking for a
suitable replacement. Hope you find this useful
Dear Xbase++, Visual FoxPro and Clipper developer,
Today’s topic is “Xbase++ meets Visual FoxPro”, which of course we cannot begin to talk about without talking about Xbase++ and
Clipper first.
Xbase++ and Continuous Delivery/Deployment
Product Portfolio changes and Prices
Xbase++ meets Visual FoxPro
Automated Updates for Xbase++
Product Activation
New Website, created with 100% Xbase++ – no more, no less!
Myth: Xbase++ is just a Clipper compiler for Windows.
Truth: Alaska Software did not just reimplement Clipper. What we did was classical reengineering. As a result, Xbase++ is a 100%
Clipper language compatible development platform with features such as intelligent multithreading, exchangeable database engines, a
hybrid compiler creating native code and pcode for macro execution and a lot more. To make a long story short: Xbase++
definitively is the Clipper successor.
Myth: Alaska Software will abandon Clipper developers by making Xbase++ compatible to Visual FoxPro.
Truth: Well, this is a myth that a lot of people seem to like. However, the myth is wrong. In fact, the opposite is true as we are
executing a different strategy for reaching VFP compatibility than we used with Clipper.
We analyzed Visual FoxPro in much the same way we analyzed Clipper more than a decade ago. In addition, core developers of the
Xbase++ platform visited numerous VFP conferences and our library has filled up with books and conference material about VFP
from all over the world – even from Russia or Brazil. After analysis follows synthesis. So we did that, too. And we did a lot of
prototyping which we showed at various VFP developer conferences to get feedback. Based on the feedback and the experiences of
early adopters we finally defined our strategy for reaching VFP compatibility. It is as follows
Identify the features of VFP which are outstanding and really powerful. Review
the features to make them fit for the next decades, then add them to Xbase++.
Case in point: Universal SQL and DataObjects in Version 2.0 to name just a few.
Extend existing Xbase++ commands and functions to make them compatible with
VFP, if they are not compatible already. This has to be done in a way that ensures
Xbase++ and Clipper backward compatibility. Case in point: all Xbase++ 2.0 ISAM
commands like SKIP/SEEK/USE are now VFP compatible. In most cases, only an
additional IN clause needed to be added, such as in “SKIP 1 IN Customer”.
Create a VFP compatibility library and a command definition for all the remaining
classes, commands and statements. Simply adding #include “vfp.ch”
to your source code should be enough to make Xbase++ understand the
DIMENSION command, for example.
Create a transpiler which transforms existing Visual FoxPro PRG/VCX/SCX files
into Xbase++ PRG code.
It should be obvious from this strategy that we will not abandon Clipper. Neither will we just transform existing Visual FoxPro code
into Xbase++ source code.
With this strategy, we are going the hard way of taking the best from VFP, and making it better before adding it to Xbase++. And all
this without breaking backward compatibility!
Myth: Polarfox is a Visual FoxPro developer’s future.
Truth: Polarfox is not a product name! Instead, Polarfox was/is the name of a reengineering and prototyping project towards the next
generation of Visual FoxPro.
We already have moved features and technologies from the Polarfox
project into Xbase++ 2.0.
With our continuous delivery strategy (CDI) we are able to add
features to the Xbase++ platform in an incremental fashion.
This process will continue until the design and modelling tools for
Xbase++ 3.0 are ready to be released.
A final word about the forthcoming Southwest Fox and Southwest Xbase++ conferences being held on 1619 Oct. in Phoenix, AZ.
This year, our speakers will focus on two major topics specifically designed for you:
Basics about the Xbase++ language and deep dives into Xbase++ – great
for VFP developers and Xbase++ 1.7/1.8 users.
Practical sessions about how the new features in Xbase++ 2.0 can be used
in realworld applications, so you can become more productive and create
more value for your customers.
There is also a halfday preconference session about using Xbase++ 2.0 in parallel with your existing 1.x installation and projects.
More details about the sessions can be found here and here.
Finally, thank you very much for your patience, regarding this rather long letter and with Alaska Software in general. Again: in case
you have questions, please feel free to post them to the public.xbase++.generic news group.
Reply
Elaine says:
October 29, 2014 at 12:21 pm
I too noticed Alaska SW xbase++ and am very interested. I started using xbase in the ’80s with dBase II and developed a career
around the xbase language. Prior to that I was a FORTRAN programmer. I liked it but took to dBase naturally. I have found it
frustrating to move to anything else. I took a Java language course and hated it. There is just nothing as robust as the language
as well as the file manipulation as xbase. I have pretty much retired and moved on to different interests but if there were an
xbase platform I could use even for simple things like parsing or cleaning up files I’d go for it in a heart beat. Even better if I
could create some mobile apps or tweaks for iOS.
Reply
October 25, 2014 at 3:19 am
My Dear Joel
Thanks for your effort.
In all neutral/natural work/sacrifices for promoting society; TIME is the decision maker. The team developed foxprow/VFP tried to do
something better it was only possible for their services oriented thought. I am using foxprow/VFP since 1992. I do not know when I
will left it. In programming concept VFP played a vital role to learn how to make a complete database program for client.
My personal view is that the team worked for men and that’s why possibility of its sustainability is more. Of course we do not know
how it will happened .
Reply
Rudolph "Rudy" Robinson says:
Dear all,
As an industrial engineer and businessman I loved the Visual Foxpro experience! It was efficient and fast and editing was a breeze. I
trained many people in VFP and many went into business for themselves making good money from the programs they wrote.
It had to be killed off as, as stated earlier there was no money in it for Microsoft! Business ALWAYS over rules technology, so
developers are left with crappy inefficient tools to work with.
Like most people, I had hoped VFP would have been upgraded to support the net, cloud computing mobile apps and 64 bit
technology, and like most people I was disappointed.
As a businessman I came out of program development as “profit realized was not worth the effort involved” anymore.
RIP VFP
Reply
Hi Rudolph,
> cloud computing mobile apps
http://FoxInCloud.com/
> 64 bit technology
http://www.baiyujia.com/vfpcompiler/en/default.asp
Reply
Giorgio says:
I work with Fox since 1993, a have a lot of applications easy and quick thanks to FoxPro. The desktop applications, the server side
applications work well, very well today too. The Rushore tecnology, the Fox language, the SQL language, the enviroment, the
connections are powerfull and simple.
Now I’m trying to write new programs with C# and, after 4 years of use of C#, the developement time in C# is more than double,
there are problems and questions under every corner. Using Fox you have few but powerfull comands and functions, exactly what you
need, no more no less, only what you need to write a good application. With C# there are tons of functions, class and so on, and what
you need is usually well hidden, a real nightmare.
I hope that Microsoft changes idea and, spending little money, MS can does a Fox 10 on 64 bit with the same features of VFP 9.0 (is
enough to work well and sure for 10 years again). Please Microsoft …
Reply
Sid Swartz says:
I have been receiving so many requests recently and a lot of frustrated calls and emails from around the globe. I hear “I am
struggling to access 32bit data sources from 64 bit applications and 64bit bit data sources from 32bit applications”. So many
companies have the same issue.
If you want to continue to use VFP as you or your clients are heavily invested in older 32 bit apps and want to run on newer
boxes and technology like SSRS but can’t connect because the is no driver available CONNX Solutions can easily deliver the
bridge. I’m happy to address this solution.
Sid Swartz – CONNX Solutions
Reply
Ojai_guy says:
December 14, 2014 at 11:20 pm
I started with dbase 2, cpm 2.2 back in 1982 to write a program for my video specialty business which was drifting towards RCA
CED video disc rentals. I started with a NEC 4000 series 8 bit system w/ dual 8″ 1.1 mb IBM forat floppies. Within 18 months I
upgraded to a ITT pc compatible w/20 meg HD and transferred my files to the pc format and switched to a WordTech product labeled
dBxl and a compiler called Quicksilver. To this day, the program I have written and modified over the last 33 years still works on
Windows 7, 32 bit. Considering that all the companies which sold and serviced various programs catering to the business of renting
VHS/DVD software have went the way of most neighborhood video stores, writing my own program in dbase was a very wise
decision. I have used VFP 5 for years to generate necessary reports for business, however, the retail end is still a dos text based format
in compiled dBxl. I have played around with MS access in its early versions and found it very tedious and not very versitile. I am not
a power user and find current versions of VFP much more sophisticated than I will ever need, but nothing out there is better.
Microsoft owes us legacy consideration.
Reply
Lord Destructor says:
I think most vfp developers should switch to access, filemaker or something with the same level of development abstraction.
switching to .net without getting much slower involves a radical change of skill and development strategy. especially when you havn’t
been seriously using any other framework for the last decade or so.
it’s a big step to actually automate a lot of things that were given you for free before.
and what do I get in return if I do that?
once you reimplemented your favorite vfpfunctions you can add the parameter you always missed.
that’s it. you trade responsibility for power.
Reply
John Sullivan says:
We have used VFP 9 for years and we love it. Our applications still work fine and fast. We love the ability to modify large data files
from the command prompt. We just don’t know what we would do without VFP. No other application other than VFP can do what we
need done on a daily basic.
QUESTION: Does anyone think Microsoft would consider releasing the source code (C, C+, assembly) to a person, company or
organization so VFP could live on? That would allow for improvements in security and functionality. Maybe allow for an update to a
64bit application? I have always hoped that would happen. I would one of the first in line to buy.
MICROSOFT, can you help us? Can you hear us?
Reply
Sami Cortas says:
January 8, 2015 at 10:49 am
I, like many of you, have developed many applications in VFP, and I am happy to say they still work fine on windows 8.1 (X64)
VFP has many advantages still:
1It is very fast with great IDE and a powerful database engine, and powerful reporting tools.
2 It is an interpreted language allowing dynamic scripting. A feature I used on a payroll application that allows great flexibility in
changing payment scripts. (Compiled languages need to be recompiled after change)
3 You can run desktop application using local DB, Remote database server such as SQL, Oracle with ease using passthru SQL and
powerful foxpro cursors. I have also used VFP with cloud database using webservices (Php/MySQL) with excellent response time. (I
used an INET component with a php web service for SSL communications)
4 VFP supports ActiveX and you can embed various components to enhance usability, including a web browser with the form to
render all sort of documents: HTML, PDF etc
5VFP runtime library is so compact that you can download a VFP exe file with all the needed libraries from the web quickly. (Set up
exe are fast and compact)
6VFP can run on web servers using VFPX or Foxweb making it possible to delegate some/all the processing to the web server.
7Think of VFP as a JAVA on Steriods: It is faster,more powerful, more flexible and more compact than Java. replacement for Java.
8The VFP Codeplex community is doing a wonderful job, let us all support them by testing their projects, giving them suggestions
and financial support. (Totally free and Open Source )
9There are many mature 32 bit applications, so MS will not drop support for 32bit applications any time soon. It will diminish
productivity and impact the windows market negatively.
10As stated by others VFP is a much better Rapid Development tool with robust executables. It has all the modern components, and
can be easily used to develop Software as an Application (SaaS) projects which make the development language transparent to the
user. (In addition to desktop applications that are more secure and private than web applications, and much more efficient, user
friendly and faster)
Reply
Mike P says:
I’ve been a DBase/FoxPro user and developer since the early 1990′s and made a very good living with the language. However I saw
the writing on the wall when Microsoft announced the end of life for the product some years back. I spent the last 5 years converting
tens of thousands of lines of VFP code to C#. I’m sorry, but C#, together with SQL Server, provides a much more capable
programming and productivity experience than VFP ever did.
I have to also add that those who will continue to use the DBF file format on newer versions of Windows servers are exposing
themselves and their clients to risks relating to corrupted data (especially CDX) files. This is a well known issue and it has to do with
how Microsoft has implemented file locking at the sever level with their latest releases (2008 and beyond). If, as a software
professional, you are recommending VFP to future clients, you have an ethical obligation to make them aware of this potential issue.
In fact, you need to let them know VFP is no longer supported by the vendor.
My recommendation would be to use another language or switch to an XBase variant that is still supported by a vendor.
Reply
Edward I. says:
I am using XBases since 1989 (Clipper Summer 87, Clipper 5.x, FoxPro 2.x, ForPro for Windows 2.x, VFP 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9SP2 still my
choice #1) and with attempt to learn other programming languages came to conclusion that programming languages are pretty much
the same as any language that we use for speaking. When it comes to VFP as a high level programming language, with long time use
it develops irreversible or difficult to overcome state of mind, the way of thinking and even mentality. If we better expressing
ourselves in English language, which could be the first language for many, which they learned from the first year old and grew up
with, then the second language will not be the same comfy as the first one, because the heart is not connected to that second language.
Knowing VFP and learning other programming languages creates internal conflict like “Oh, no! in VFP I would do it in few seconds
and more effectively.”
The same as baby learns that it is easier to get milk from the bottle, than from mom’s breast and drops it crying out for bottle.
With years and years of using almost plain English programming language, of course, it will be challenging to learn C# or even
complex sixty lines SQL queries in TSQL, where comments built inside of the query.
That’s what we all have to overcome to pick up and truly appreciate other programming languages.
I still believe that brands like GOOGLE or Oracle may take and revive VFP.
Another thing is that we leave in time of nonsenses and by that reason VFP cancellation is in the list of such nonsenses as well as
jobs outsourcing followed by paying doubles or triples for many unpredictable that accompanied outsourcing.
So, no surprises for me.
Long life VFP – you will survive these nonsense times!!
Edward
Reply
John Smitch says:
February 10, 2015 at 7:15 pm
I’m still looking for anything, easier and faster than Visual Foxpro to manipulate day to day small company , and until now did find
nothing on the same level.
Visual was a winner killed for no tech reason,
Reply
Berzee P. says:
June 4, 2015 at 9:11 am
Hi,
I too started with dBase III+ and continued with Clipper Summer 87. Created a few apps in dbASE for Windows 5.6 /5.7 by
Borland. Well, the dBase legend still lives on. You could try the latest dBase release 9.5 from http://www.dbase.com It supports
the dbf files, is completely object oreinted… It may require a bit of a learning curve, as I have not much experience with
Foxpro… but dbase has a dedicated support forum which is really helpful. As with any software it has its own quirks, but even
if I start out with another language platform, I simply return to dBase to get the job done!
Reply
Jim Champaigne says:
Like so many of the above comments, I too had the privilege of working with dBase II, Clipper and then Fox Base prior to migrating
to Visual FoxPro.
Does anybody remember DevCon 1992 with Dr. Brian Jones’ presentation on using FoxBase to schedule Desert Shield? Bill Gates
was very impressed. We developers were humbled.
I wrote and supported applications for a plastics manufacturing company in Indiana for 25 years. What a wonderful tool to develop so
many truly useful applications. Budgets, Sales analysis, Production scheduling, Inventory replenishment, modeling, JDEdwards
conversions and uploads. The list goes on and on.
I retired seven years ago and now hear from my former coworkers the frustration after the company was sold and all VFP programs
were turned off. Utter chaos has been the result.
I currently teach a freshman level computer science course which includes MS Access. It is a nice filter and fair reporting tool, but
nowhere compares with VFP.
I remember suggesting to Ken Levy sometime in the ’90′s that it would be nice if somebody were to purchase FoxPro from MS to
give it some real support. His reply was, “That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.” Well, I still think it was a good idea.
I also remember rumors in the 1980′s of Fox developing for IBM’s AS400. What a combination that would have been. We could have
ruled the database world.
We all had a really good ride with Fox. I only wish the next generation of programmers could have such a fantastic tool.
Good book: FoxTales: Behind the Scenes at Fox Software Paperback – October 1, 2003 by Kerry Nietz (Author) Purchase on
Amazon.
Thanks for the Memories. (extended or expanded)
Jim Champaigne
Reply
Biju Joseph says:
March 2, 2015 at 3:02 am
Like many others commented here , I too have many years experiences in working with Xbase languages like dabase III plus,
FoxBase, .. to VFP9 (and also with COBOL, C,C++,Java,VB … JavaScript,HTML5)
From my experience, Visual Foxpro contains everything – database, SQL, multimedia, Internet, reports,charts, graphics,ActiveX and
OOP support. (We don’t have to install them separately)
Me too love its command window. Like many others, I too find it as a simple, but efficient tool to create a good desktop application in
comparatively less time. Unlike other recent languages & DBMS, Visual Foxpro takes less memory and I think, a very good tool for
creating small or mid level applications.
Let us hope, whether it is Microsoft, Ashton Tate or Fox Software or Google or Amazon or any Open source community give support
for FoxPro development and joy to thousands of users/developers across the globe.
Let VFP be there for the present and future generations.
Thank you all for all your memories recorded here. Very informative.
regards,
Biju Joseph, India
Benz is a good car, doesn’t imply that Jaguar or BMW is bad.
Reply
March 8, 2015 at 12:51 am
I am not sure but it seems to me that the team developed the Oracle database is the developer of VFP.
It is true that VFP Programming works in a mode of “CAN DO EVERYTHING” which sounds not sound. As we know that cooking
rice is easy; but you will be undone if you do not have a container. And if we are going back to thinking about rice cooking we have
to face hundreds even thousands of issues. VFP is king in this respect to make someone comfortable in his logical thinking.
I do not find any (data loss/corrupt cdx/index) state which can not be settled in application run time.
So far i have guess VFP is still unique database programming tools for learning a complete database programming.
Reply
anonymous says:
March 24, 2015 at 11:33 am
It seems the links for Alaska Software in an above post have been changed to:
http://www.alaskasoftware.com/
Reply
Geovanny Fuentes says:
March 25, 2015 at 1:12 pm
I’m glad to see this article is being read 3+ years after it was published.
It shows how many great developers still exist in many languages. But they still know a good tool to work with and what to compare
it too.
Microsoft needs to stop thinking in the box and pull itself out.
They know they were always in fear of being second and third in the market.
You can only go so far in the world by pulling apart and taking a piece of a great whole system.
Microsoft, you know the product and you need to think about how powerful and advance this Software was compared even to today’s
current products in 2015.
If you don’t think the product lines up years later with your line of products, sell it to a company that knows the potential it had. And
what it can be as the leader in today’s market.
If you are scared what can happen with your baby products of VB and Access, then think again of how powerful this product is to
anyone!
Maybe it’s time for a company to reinvent the wheel (Fpro –FuturePro) and make it happen. Just don’t be a sellout of a potential
wonderful product. Go with it and the seed you plant will grow to wonders.
Especially in today’s market where the web will carry a small voice to be a voice to be reckon with.
Thank you again everyone for your great feedbacks and Joel Leach for this article to see it’s still alive.
It brought back memories with great pride and joy.
Geovanny Fuentes
California
Reply
April 2, 2015 at 9:21 am
Consistency of data is simply more than important. VFP can not handle the calculations where arithmetical issues not represent the
situation. Eg. 1/3 = (?) 0.3333333333333333. Working with decimal places in VFP is Unparallel
VFP is king in data consistency.
Md. Musleh Uddin
Dhaka, Bangladesh
Reply
JLB says:
May 16, 2015 at 5:20 pm
I had never programmed before (other than the first Bridgeport CNC) milling machine. I had an idea for a job shop management
system and started by hiring someone. Then he went on to other things and I was stuck. He recommended FoxPro2.6 and left me to
my devices. Well, FoxPro saved me and I produced a system that manages all accounting, job management, quoting, routing,
purchasing, etc. (updating along the way to VFP 9.0). It sold well and in 1986, I had 60 applications out in the real world. I also went
on to develop other apps for different businesses.
I had stopped selling my signature ‘Profit**’ when MS decided to drop VFP until I could update it to something that could easily be
maintained. Well, nothing feasible was out there. Then I was hired to learn .Net C# for a web project… BIG learning curve, but it was
successful.
Now, I am 70 years old and worried about my customers getting proper support if something happens to me, so I decided to rewrite
‘Profit****’ in .Net. My biggest hurdle was to find a way to produce the 300+ reports present in my VFP application. So I used VFP
to produce the reports. It works great as expected.
After 25 years, FoxPro still rocks. I, too wish someone could buy it and update it. It seems like such a big waste to let it die away.
JLB
Concord, Ohio
Reply
May 18, 2015 at 11:20 pm
Dear JLB
I am really happy to know that you are 70 and very soundly describe the strength of foxprow/vfp. Perhaps to live long in
Industry for MS (Microsoft), the optimum way will be to change their decision regarding VFP. Although AshtonTate with
some other person/company developed it initially and I am sure MS never purchase it for making it die. Having cash might not
be the focus in business in the long run. How you contribute in the society to promote it; is the LIVING POINT in the long run.
Socrates, Aristotle, Pythagoras, Albert Einstein and many other are living today for their deed.
MS creates (copied) many types of contentment since a significant time behind along with creating severe pain in the industry
in context of consistency. MS can take a remedial measure of removing pain by doing VFP LIVE.
Thanks
Md. Musleh Uddin
Dhaka, Bangladesh
Reply
AJITH says:
May 20, 2015 at 5:05 am
I AM VFP DEVELOPER PLS FIND VFP.NET FOR WEB IT IS SUCH GOOD DEVELOPING TOOL AND V CAN FINE TUNE
ANY TYPE OF QUERY AND FORM DESIGN IN VFP…PLS PLS DO ARRANGE DEVELOPMENT ToolL FOR vfp …IN WEB
ARENA..
Reply
it already exists: FoxInCloud – http://foxincloud.com/
Reply
Tom Rombouts says:
June 3, 2015 at 1:22 am
In the mid 1980s I was given a bootleg copy of dBASE II for CP/M (on two floppy discs) and for better or worse it changed my life
for the next 20 years or so. I was in the L.A. area and would end up doing all sorts of xBASE work, including working for Wayne
Ratliff on testing his Emerald Bay product, working at AshtonTate on dBASE IV, and working with Tom Rettig using FoxPro and
VFP until literally the day he died. Thanks to everyone for all the comments and stories above, which I have skimmed over. It brings
back so many memories of a now ended portion of my life. I met some great people in the developer community, but did not realize
that unlike a profession like law or accounting or something, it would all fade away so completely in not that many years. During my
divorce I simply assumed I could just jump into the first Internet boom, but I now realize today a lot of that work is done by people
literally half my age. Reading the above comments has to make me wonder how different my life would have been without its c 20
year xBASE detour that peaked with FPW and VFP, but of course it is now all water under the bridge as they say. Thanks to all of
you above who helped make the xBASE community as strong and vibrant as it was! Tom (now in El Segundo and still maintaining a
FPW app about once a month)
Reply
John Cox says:
June 5, 2015 at 9:04 am
Hi all, just a quick question, has anyone yet looked at dbase 9.5, can’t find any review or comments on it anywhere.
Reply
John Gaffey says:
July 20, 2015 at 8:26 am
I just stumbled upon this site and I feel like I’m at a fraternity reunion.
I started my computing career in mid 1980s
I worked with dBASE IV, V and VFP 5 and 6
I recently retired from 31 year government career, the latter half as Oracle DBA
The most useful VFP 6.0 applications I built
an HTML Editor
an Oracle Database Query Library Builder and Reporting Tool
I also find VFP useful for managing personal data related to
people,
Contacts, Family Tree
money,
Checkbook, Mortgage, Annual Budgeting
schedule,
Appointments, Anniversaries, Deadlines
experience
More robust version of Schedule that incorporates links and document repositories
Hobby specific – e.g. running database – race history, pace and fitness calculators, training schedule
digital assets (music, photographs, notes – file management of mp3, jpg, dbf, xml, … )
Professionally, VFP derived tools helped me to build robust Metadata Libraries that made RDBMS Administration more efficient,
better controlled and easier to express to colleagues and customers.
SQL Code Libraries
HTML,CSS,JS Syntax Libraries
Table Layout / Data Dictionary
Data to Web methods
QPR/SQL to HTML, XML, CSV, DBF, SQL
VFP is great control environment for acquiring, documenting, integrating, analyzing and transitioning data and metadata.
VFP does a great job of building data transparent systems and delivers data portability and labeling capabilities that could bring true
computing capability to the masses.
I could use advice from someone who has sold VFP exe apps commercially. I have a two year developer license for VP 9.0 which
expires next year. I need clarification on legal boundaries of exe distribution.
Thanks to all who contributed to this great forum.
Reply
IAmTheWolf says:
August 13, 2015 at 4:24 pm
“Don’t * with My FoxPro” (VFP, Clipper, dBase) I am doing the debit card thaanggg thanks to Pete Sass . We debit the account, store
the icon numbers and go from there. All via xml/vfp. Thanks Pete !
Reply
VFRDavid says:
August 15, 2015 at 10:14 am
I still remember when MSFT purchase Fox – a few months later (or maybe it was after the first release of a MSFT branded version
2.5? 2.6?) – since I was active in the developer community – I got an invitation to a MSFT sponsored event at the Marriott Marquis in
NYC…YAG was there, and I believe they had him speak, since he was (is) so well respected in the Fox community (he was working
for Flash Creative Management at the time in NJ, if I’m not mistaken)…the thing I remember most was – that if the event lasted 8
hours, 7 hours and 30 minutes of it were spent by presenters talking about Access/VB…which really was odd, since this was supposed
to be an event to allow MSFT to allay the fears of the Fox developing community at large…I really thought the language was dead at
that point – another case of MSFT’s “If you can’t beat them, buy them…” strategy (the only one I recall them failing at was their
attempt to purchase Quicken (Intuit?) so that they could shove MSMoney down people’s throats)…What a different world this might
be if Novell hadn’t pissed them off with “Perfect Office” – Windows NT Server (ha) might have died on the vine, and MS might have
stuck with owning the desktop…but…most of that has little to do with VFP. I see a lot of comments here of people wishing that
“someone” would buy the rights to VFP and resurrect it – I doubt that will ever happen – because – for someone to buy it – it would
have to be for sale – and – as everyone who’s ever developed can tell you – there was no better platform than VFP…certainly nothing
from MSFT…so why would they risk having that competition again? I’ve only used Access when I was required to – same with VB –
about the only other development environment that I’ve ever really taken to was “Magic PC” – which was originally based on Btrieve
databases (Pervasive SQL) – but – I think that language is dead too…(you know you’re old when all of the languages you know and
love are dead ).
Anyway – I still use VFP – and if it ever IS revived, I’ll be one of the first to purchase it – but I don’t see that happening in my
lifetime…I hope I’m wrong…
Reply
August 17, 2015 at 9:19 pm
“Anyway – I still use VFP – and if it ever IS revived, I’ll be one of the first to purchase it – but I don’t see that happening in my
lifetime…I hope I’m wrong…” . A big community in the world is shouting. I do not know whether any legal measure can be
taken to make VFP Live.
Reply
C says:
WoW! Good to see the continuation of this string. Bought my first computer in 1982. Compaq Portable. Started using Condor 4gl
then switched to FoxPro 2.0 DOS then FoxPro 2.6 for Windows. It has been my bread and butter. Good to hear that Windows 10 still
support 16 bit apps (FoxPro). But where from here? FoxPro gave me the best (as I know it) screen generation tools. But what now? Is
there a better way to create GUI without starting all over again? I’ll watch for some posts.
Best to you all!
Reply
Thakur Anup Singh says:
October 10, 2015 at 10:47 pm
I am using dbaseFoxProvfp since 1992. When I had complete my study i learn COBOL,Ingress,Sybase,oracle & dbase. I had choose
dbase as my carrier and now in vfp.
We have 6 lakh users in India of our MARG inventory and accounting software.
When I had shifted to vfp from dos FoxPro, at that time i have options to shift in other platform also but i had choose Microsoft
product vfp.
I know vfp is not earning product for Microsoft but Excel,Word, Windows, etc are also selling due to that vfp program.
If Microsoft will not think over it we will definitely shift our product in any other operating system and Microsoft mind it windows
and there products are in sale due to us if we all vfp programs shift to any other os its a big loss to Microsoft.
Reply
Homecont http://www.homecont.ro/ says:
October 25, 2015 at 12:11 pm
For Mr. John Gaffey, about “I could use advice from someone who has sold VFP exe apps commercially. I have a two year
developer license for VP 9.0 which expires next year. I need clarification on legal boundaries of exe distribution.”
Hi,
Some comments:
It is the first time when i hear that Microsoft sold VFP 9 for only 2 (two) years….
All I know is that VFP 9 has only one variant on the market called
“Microsoft Visual FoxPro Pro 9.0 English” or “Microsoft Visual FoxPro 9.0 Professional Edition” – with 1 single CD and the price is
around 600 to 1000 USD.
Anyway if it is true with your limited VFP 9 edition for only 2 years:
Microsoft didn’t say anything about this type of license
All EXE applications made by you in this legal time until next year are very legal over 100 years from now on because you
made/build them in the legal period.
The only limit is Bill Gates who will make a smart bitshift on windows 11 and above stopping the functionality of some 32 bit app,
like VFP9.0 (like he does with 16 bit MSDOS app .)
Ms Granor Tamar said that VFP will still work for at least 10 years from now on (a very good news and I hope it will be true).
http://www.tomorrowssolutionsllc.com/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?ID=22
Reply
MOHAMMED KANANI says:
Hello everyone,
We are a group of programmers at the South Oil Company/IRAQ/BASRAH,
Is it possible for Microsoft to reconsider the possibility of developing a VFP? Due to the large number of users VFP!!!
All our systems are designed VFP language and we will be in critical condition if this great language stopped or is not developed to
work with networks.
Thank you anyway.
Reply
Mary Biggs says:
I loved dBase (from dBase II though dBase IV). I moved to FoxPro 2.6. I moved to Visual FoxPro 6.0 in 1998. So much for Ashton
Tate and Microsoft.
Since 1999, I’ve moved everything over to Linux (Red Hat distributions)…..first to Flagship, and over the past ten years to xHarbour.
So…..if you have any dBase/Clipper/VFP applications which need to be kept going in 2015……take a look at xHarbour for
continuity into the foreseeable future.
Reply
FastTrack Listmail says:
We are a small operation handling large and very large VFP database files, owned by our customers and/owned by us, for two specific
purposes:
1) We run through the USPS National Change of Address (NCOA) system for mailing list change of address services, for commercial
customers and public agencies.
2) We process specialized consumer information files for sale to commercial customers.
We do write database applications solely for our own business use, and we are not an applications developer for anyone else.
We have been using dBase and VFP up through VFP9 since the early 1980s, and these precisely fit our commercial needs. We have
been using a couple of old Microsoft Windows Server 2003 R2 computers, with shared drive access to other computers in our office.
Now, we must upgrade to at least one new server, with Windows Server 2012 R2 operating system, presumably running in 64bit in
place of our older computers which all operate in 32bit. The only possible substitute we have found for VFP8 or VFP9 is the Lianja
App Builder, access to which they charge $695/year. We really don’t want to buy access to a software program, but want a software
package that is ours to use without restriction after we pay for it. Also, we think Lianja is a more or less endless Beta operation which
users pay a minimum $58/month rental fee.
We understand the most expensive version of Windows Server 2012 R2, the “Standard” version, sells for a premium price,
but is the only version that that has a virtualization feature than would enable us to run VFP8 or VFP9 on a new Dell server set up for
674fit operation. We also understand that running 32bit programs on a 64fit platform causes slowdowns in job runs.
What are our likely options, based on the above?
Arnold Harris
FastTrack Listmail
Reply
Joel Leach says:
Hi Arnold,
I don’t know if you are having a specific issue, but in general, 32bit programs run fine on 64bit Windows without
performance issues. I don’t have any problems running VFP9 SP2 apps on 64bit Windows clients and servers.
If you are looking for alternative options to FoxPro, there isn’t one good alternative that stands out with the same feature mix. If
the majority of your code is for processing data, take a look at xBase++. You’ll miss key features like form and report designers
(those are planned), but you may be able to port over a good portion of your code. There’s also dBase. They match up better on
a feature basis, but for some reason, they have never targeted FoxPro developers. I’ve heard their approach to development is
different, so it may be difficult to port an app over. If you like Lianja, take another look at their licensing. You may not be
required to renew that subscription every year if you don’t want to. Of course, there is a plethora of nonxBase options out there
mainstream (.NET, TSQL, Java, Node.js) and otherwise. You’re probably talking about a rewrite no matter what you do, but
some options may be closer to your needs than others.
Reply
JimKeegan says:
So do people still use Visual FoxPro ? What is a good alternative. Foxpro is so easy too use I would hate to adopt a new problematic
software.
Reply
Joel Leach says:
Hi Jim,
Yes, people still use VFP, and a primary reason is that there is not a good alternative. Take a look at the comments for various
suggestions, but FoxPro has a special mix of features that is difficult to match. Microsoft had their reasons for cancelling
FoxPro, but it still left a lot of us in the lurch. We’re not the only ones. Microsoft’s treatment of other development platforms
(VB6, Silverlight, desktop development in general) has eroded a lot of the trust they gained in the 90′s. FWIW, the number of
FoxPro developers continues to dwindle, but I do believe (anecdotally) that it is at a faster pace than the FoxPro apps still
requiring maintenance and development. FoxPro jobs don’t pop up every day, but when a company is in need, they may have a
hard time filling the position.
Reply
Dear Joel Leach
Your Post is talking since 4/5 years. Do you have any suggestion for VFP developer for staying with time.
Reply
Joel Leach says:
I’ve thought about writing a followup blog with general information on alternatives. But I figure by now, everyone
has decided what they are going to do, whether it’s to stick with FoxPro, supplement it with other tools, or move
onto another development platform entirely. Do you think there is still value in an article about this?
Reply
January 12, 2016 at 10:00 pm
Dear Joel Leach
“Do you think there is still value in an article about this?”
Yes!
Because VFP is king to accommodate someone’s logical thinking. I have little knowledge on relational
model (invented by Edgar Frank “Ted” Codd (19 August 1923 – 18 April 2003) was an English computer
scientist , while working for IBM). But i can fulfill my customer desire by using VFP. We tried in 94/95 to
1998 on many govt. projects in Bangladesh with oracle database and with developer and many other IDE
tools like TOAD. It was difficult to derive a tolerable state in consideration to time and/or finance budget.
When we learn some few things on VFP, we became quickly comfortable with VFP and found that it is
surprisingly meeting most of our purpose. Now in 2016 oracle is adding value in great for great business
man/ organization. But I personally believe that oracle is creating pain in many context specially in the name
of security.
I believe VFP or something similar to VFP will stand. As no one can teach you writing code, like writing
poems ; it is one kind of perception which yields a natural output.
Please let me know what do you think?
There is no database programming tolls similar to FP/VFP in current world. The tools was consistent since its inception which
ultimately added value to developer day by day.
Reply
Flair says:
January 28, 2016 at 11:52 am
I still use VFP at my company. We have .NET developers and Oracle developers. We are primarily a MS shop. I still run circles
around the developers here. As a matter of fact I am their supervisor. When we have large projects many people are brought together
to come up with solutions. They struggle for weeks and I let them. Finally they ask if I have any thing. Of course within a couple of
days I write a script using multiple data sources tied together with quick screens and reports. The awe from the .NET developers or
the Web Focus reporting teams is jaw dropping. I don’t share what I am doing unless someone is really interested. The people
excelling at my company use VFP 9 and get things done faster. Otherwise the company spends thousands of dollars out sourcing. The
small group of people here who use many development tools always stays with VFP. Access developers are always complaining
about the next version or why 2003 doesn’t work with windows 10. .NET developers take 2 years to finish applications. But the VFP
developers are always on time and ahead of schedule. Customers do not know what the application is written in and don’t care. The
users tell my mangers I want to keep what I am using now which is a VFP application (which they always have to ask me) . If MS
wants to discontinue the VFP product and not bring it back that is OK. I will definitely point my company to a non Microsoft platform
if this happens. I am in position to do this because VFP has put me on top at my company. VFP is all components (Forms, Code,
Reports, Large Databases, multi user)
Reply
Homecont SRL says:
Very good article like all others above (but this is a little bit interesting).
Why is good in my opinion?
Because it made a complete synthesis about what we can do with VFP69 and what we can do with other development tools
(C++, .NET, Java). Also we can see here how big is the real distance between those develpment tools measured in something
like this:
A good senior VFP programmer can do an economical app in VFP ten times faster and ten times better than a similar senior
developer who write the same economic app. in another development tool.
Reply
samir parikh says:
I still use VFP 6 and have made ODBC connection with database which gives me results directly into excel. Its the best way of
reporting system in excel and with fields like date, month, year in database it becomes easy for reporting for various years of data in
one excel sheet.
I learned in 1991 VFP 2.5 and clipper 5 and still after so many years of various software and database systems learning, i still feel
VFP is the best. The programming is quite logical and meaningful and database is also well built in relational way and systematic,
very less amount of scripting needed than other programs for programming.
Just came to know people are still feeling crazy to use as I am. feel proud hope one day VFP will be born again.
Samir Parikh
p.s. : thanks for the article. it explains the best and people below in comment.
Reply
John McDonald says:
I have been programming with the xBase languages since DBase III. I have a couple of new hires directly out of college, and they are
amazed what I can still do in a little bit of code with VFP 9. I gladly thank Microsoft to keep the product relevant by not updating
their Windows beyond version 10 and I may able to retire without never having to struggle with .net.
As someone has said before “A good senior VFP programmer can do an economical app in VFP ten times faster and ten times better
than a similar senior developer who write the same economic app. in another development tool.”
I wish there would have been one more version that could have done a couple of more tricks, but right now, I am glad it’s still around.
Reply
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