"There will be no VFP 10" 3

[TheRambler]

We are announcing today that there will be no VFP 10.

As I understand it - or want to understand - they are not saying there won't be VFP 11. It has happened before with VFP 4, maybe they will skip version 10 for whatever reason.

Anyway, I have yet to learn a lot of what VFP 9 offers so I will stay with it for a long time (I wonder if licenses will be cheaper in the future, or as it happens with precious stuff, they will get pricey), eventually I might jump into .NET as needed.

Just my two cents, I couldn't remain silent.

 

[Nro]

Hi Imaginecorp

I agree with you, but working in a closed room, no windows (not MS, real window, with a view to the outside) with all these big computers around me, almost drive me crazy. Now, I charge less, I make less money, and working with FOX is fun.


As for VFP 11, MS never release VP 4 because VFP 5 was part of visual studio 5 (if I remember right.) So you could be optimistic, but don’t have too much illusions. It’ll never happen.

Nro

 

[Mike Lewis]

Nro,

MS never release VP 4 because VFP 5 was part of visual studio 5

Actually, I think it was to bring it into line with Visual Basic and Visual C++, both of which had just gone to version 5. It wasn't until VFP 6 that it became part of Visual Studio (but I might be wrong).

Mike


__________________________________
Mike Lewis (Edinburgh, Scotland)

My Visual FoxPro site: www.ml-consult.co.uk

 

[craigber]

TheRamble:

Yes, they are. There will be no VFP team after Sedna and SP2 ship. The team will start full time in the other groups where they are working.

There is no reason to stop working with VFP. It will be supported for another 8 years and still has lots of life in it.

Craig Berntson
MCSD, Visual FoxPro MVP,

http://www.craigberntson.com

Author, CrysDev: A Developer's Guide to Integrating Crystal Reports"

 

[dgrewe]

Python sure is looking good.


David W. Grewe (Dave)

 

[TheRambler]

Nro, craigber:

Looks like I was going through the stages of grief, which is the normal response to the loss of a loved one, but I will jump from denial to acceptance while skipping anger and depression.

Surely I will keep using VFP 9, the main problem for me will be to convince my boss and managers when they hear "FoxPro is dead" again, if I can't I will have to change them, that is, get another job where VFP is appreciated.

 

[GriffMG]

Hey,

Why don't we get together and set up a 'VFP is alive and kicking' website and give the address to any boss who hears something to the contrary!

B-)

Regards

Griff
Keep [Smile]ing

 

[Dan Freeman]

My boss has been hearing "Foxpro is dead" for so many years his first reaction is "So what?" ;-)

 

[Mike Lewis]

With all the talk here of COBOL and near-dead languages, this might be a good moment to note the passing of John Backus last week.

John Backus was the inventor of the Backus-Naur form, which has been used for many years as standard "language" for describing programming languages. Perhaps more importantly, he led the team at IBM that developed Fortran.

Fortran, like COBOL, might not be the force it once was, but it's of huge importance for all of us because it proved the concept of the high-level language. It was Backus who insisted that a computer program could translate a high-level language into machine code, and, despite a lot of scepticism at the time, proved his point by developing Fortran. He died on 17th March, aged 93.

Sorry, I know that this is off-thread. Then again, this has become such a wide-ranging thread that I'm sure you won't mind.

Mike


__________________________________
Mike Lewis (Edinburgh, Scotland)

My Visual FoxPro site: www.ml-consult.co.uk

 

[NullOp]

I've been hearing "no next version of foxpro" since around 1990. So far, foxpro has been the software MS couldn't kill and God knows they've tried! Its just more MS BS!!!

"Life Is Good!

 

[TamarGranor]

No, this time, it's for real. Until now, it wasn't Microsoft saying that there'd be no new versions of FoxPro, but so-called journalists and others. This is Microsoft saying it.

Y. Alan Griver, who's in charge of the FoxPro group, met with VFP MVPs at the recent MVP summit, and gave us this news face-to-face. After Sedna and VFP 9 SP2 ship sometime this summer, the VFP team will be disbanded. There will still be support available, and if serious bugs are found (the kind that eat data, for example), people will be available to fix them. But there will be no more new development of VFP.

Tamar

 

[ronald777]

My thoughts.

I will use foxpro for many years, bcos its a mature product to me.
And bcos i consider the developer as the key factor in developing software, i will manage with the fox for a long time.

Besides, even if i want to jump to vb.net or c#.net, nobody will guarantee if MS will not skip one of these developments again.

I loose the trust in MS. MS stopped the development of foxpro, bcos the fox will not give the profit to the profit standards of MS.
But, it the fox is such a bad money maker, why they dont want to sell (the fox source) to another party to develop vfp further?
Bcos i would say, that the fox-source, the intellectual properties, belongs eventually to the fox community, and not buried somewhere.

my 0,02 cents.

 

[craigber]

ronakl777,

Does the intellectual property you put into your programs belong to a community? Would you be willing to give it away?You own it or your customer (for a contract for hire) owns it, not the community.

There is no reason you have to move to .Net. There are many alternatives out there.

Craig Berntson
MCSD, Visual FoxPro MVP,

http://www.craigberntson.com

Author, CrysDev: A Developer's Guide to Integrating Crystal Reports"

 

[ronald777]

Craig,

Did i talk about giving it away?

But i agree to u Craig, that there is no reason to move to .Net.

 

[SBTBILL]

This could be a good thing if someone else gets hold of Fox or resurects dBase. Don't really think that VB is going in the right direction for desktop apps.

Sounds like there is going to be a vacume. Hope someone fills it.

Bill Couture
http:\\

http://www.sbtbill.com

 

[craigber]

Bill,

What makes you think VB is going the wrong way for desktop apps? Have you looked at Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) at all? You do use VB with it. I sat in a lot of sessions with the VB team last month at the MVP Summit and didn't see anything to indicate VB is moving away from desktop app development.

Craig Berntson
MCSD, Visual FoxPro MVP,

http://www.craigberntson.com

Author, CrysDev: A Developer's Guide to Integrating Crystal Reports"

 

[RedLion]

Or maybe not as this article says

http://arstechnica.com/journals/mic...pers-petition-for-the-return-of-visual-foxpro

In this article a quote from Visual Studio group manager Alan Griver who confirmed the possibility of FoxPro becoming open source software

"For Microsoft to continue to evolve the FoxPro base, we would need to look at creating a 64-bit development environment and that would involve an almost complete rewrite of the core product. We've also invested in creating a scalable database with SQL Server, including the freely available SQL Server Express Edition. As far as forming a partnership with a third-party is concerned, we've heard from a number of large FoxPro customers that this would make it impossible for them to continue to use FoxPro since it would no longer be from an approved vendor. We felt that putting the environment into open source on CodePlex, which balances the needs of both the community and the large customers, was the best path forward."

Maybe there is some hope, time will know...
But the question remains what is the best way to go for new projects...everyone will have his own vision...

But as a guy in the article says:

Kind of sounds like my first true love....

And even you don't have her, it's always nice to see her around

 

[ronald777]

there is hope, when u see that almost 2500 (mostly developers) are giving support to the fox via this petition:

http://www.masfoxpro.com/Especial:Firmas/action=list

they ask MS to support the development or maintenance from the FOX
- via MS. OR
- via 3rd party,
- or make it open source

and not to bury it somewhere.....

 

[SBTBILL]

Talking about VB, seems that, is moving toward the web. Right now I think Fox is a much better desktop product because it isn't burdened by the lowest common denominator that web apps require. I like things like page frams.

Personaly I've thought since the early 90's that meging Fox and VB would be a good idea. The methods and properties concept is common to both with almost identical syntax though it seems Fox is far ahead, now. (I learned the concepts from VB 3.) The languages aren't that different. But I Don't think VB handles relations as well. I like being able to set up a master table and browse 1/2 a dozen other table controlled by it.

I use ADO for SQL tables so loosing the native SQL stuff isn't going to bother me. Except that I like the way Fox provides me with DBF's to use as temporary tables for my record sets.

I think I and everybody on this forum would be worth more if Fox was merged into VB. But that means makeing VB a desktop app as well as a Web app it seems to me everybody ignores that aspect.

Right now, I look at it this way I work with ERP PRO from Sage a lot. It's a $20,000 accounting package. I don't feel I could recomend it saying it becomes a legacy app in a few years. So this decision really means that Fox will be dead in just a few years not in 2015.

Bill Couture

 

[Imaginecorp]

Yesterday, we lost our first sale. Thank you Microsoft.
My sincere advice to the young programmers/developers on this forum, learn .Net, otherwise you will be unemployed within the next 10 years. We have already started the conversion of our app from VFP to .Net. It really is not that complicated. Once you know OOP, it’s the same with a few variations.
My philosophy of keeping it simple, without API calls etc., seems to help.