Microsoft has announced that it will not be releasing any new versions of its Visual FoxPro development software past Version 9.0, but the company will continue to support the technology through 2015. Instead of releasing new versions of FoxPro, Microsoft will release core portions of the FoxPro software to its CodePlex community development site, said Alan Griver, a group manager within the Microsoft Visual Studio team, which leads the FoxPro team.
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Member since:2005-07-06
"Yet Access is allowed to live, go figure."
Access won't be alive for too much longer...think SQL Express/SQL Compact (both of which are currently free as in beernuts). They are on track to be folded into an Access like package in a future release.
I also hate to tell you this, but for the 99% of business users that aren't developers, Access is a huge productivity boon. Departmental level apps that don't have and IT budget are perfectly suited for Access.
Member since:2006-04-21
Access won't be alive for too much longer...think SQL Express/SQL Compact (both of which are currently free as in beernuts). They are on track to be folded into an Access like package in a future release.
What's the diff (no, really, I'm asking because I want to know) between Access and SQL/Express? Especially if and when it's "folded into an Access-like pakage"?
Member since:2005-07-09
Reminded me of one day when I was WAN manager for, "The Money Store", a US mortgage mill when the manager of a store in Florida developed something handy with it, decided to share with a few other store managers and instantly turned the, (actual official name), "Million Dollar An Hour Network", into a two cent abyss. Good times.
Member since:2006-07-04
Microsoft bought Fox Technologies in 1992, have developed and maintained FoxPro up till now, and will continue to support it through 2015. That's 15 years of development/support plus 8 more years of support. That's what you call "buying a competitor to kill it"?
Sure, they bought Fox Tech because it was cheaper to do that than to develop their own. So what? Microsoft saved money and Fox Tech benefitted. But it wasn't bought to be killed by any stretch of the imagination.
As for your "More MS innovation, yeah!" nonsense, companies like Apple and Google, regarded as the fountains of all innovation, bought much of their tech as well (GarageBand, NeXT, Final Cut's predecessor, Writely, YouTube, etc).
Edited 2007-03-14 19:18
Member since:2006-04-21
Member since:2005-07-09
Member since:2006-06-24
That's what you call "buying a competitor to kill it"?
Well said. The problem is that folk tend to churn out the same tired crap from the list they keep next to their box of tissues, whenever they read the word 'Microsoft' in a message.
Foxpro was one of the first 'IDE' environments I used, and for the time, it was a joy to use. And contrary to popular belief, it got better when MS took it over. They improved the language, and released a versions for other platforms; not hard to do when you consider that the IDE was actually written in Foxpro; all they had to do was rebuild the runtime for Windows, the Mac and Unix, and the IDE came with it.
Blimey! I just realised that Foxpro was the first cross platform Virtual Machine I ever programmed on! ... :-D
Great stuff.
Haven't touched it in years, and very sad to see it go. But on the other hand, MS putting it in the hands of the community is a good move; and a surprising one.
Member since:2005-11-13
This pretty much confirms for me what a lot of us thought all along, the only reason they bought it was of costing less to kill a better competitor than having to go to all the trouble of producing a better competitive product. More MS innovation, yeah!
Sure because a buying a company in 1992, updating the product into 2007 and offering support until 2015 is obviously the quick route to killing the competition!
Edited 2007-03-14 21:19
Member since:2005-07-09
You guys must be talking about some other product I thought they bought because they couldn't compete with then cannibalized turned into a server and put the rest into a client that neither were as good as the original product that they let languish hardly marketing with no place in their office package then killed?
Edited 2007-03-15 13:47
Member since:2005-08-11
Access's days are numbered, I think. SQL server 2005 is wicked compared to previous versions, and it has full integration with the .NET framework. I think MS's longterm strategy is to standardize all DB products on SQL Server. That's why they give away SQL Server Express, hoping that having such a capable free product (compared to Access) will move people and apps over to it.
Member since:
2005-07-09
Yet Access is allowed to live, go figure. This pretty much confirms for me what a lot of us thought all along, the only reason they bought it was of costing less to kill a better competitor than having to go to all the trouble of producing a better competitive product. More MS innovation, yeah!