On the lack of alternatives (Blog: ISV Blog)

Entitled "Foxpro is dead: which 4GL is next?":

Microsoft recently announced that they will no longer develop new versions of Visual FoxPro, once one of the leading 4GL tools. Who's next? Oracle announced last year they will no longer develop new versions of Oracle Forms and also other 4GL vendors including Uniface, PowerBuilder, 4D, Omnis and Magic have not been really keeping up with the market in the past years.

What I find fascinating is that these vendors are not coming up with good alternatives for the products they are discontinuing or slowing down development on. I asked a couple of ISV's that have products in FoxPro what Microsoft is recommending them, I was guessing Microsoft would be suggesting (and helping!) them to move to .Net but guess what? Microsoft is recommending them to become a reseller of their confusing mix of Dynamics products.

Really! Microsoft essentially started to compete with ISV's when they started building up their Dynamics portfolio: it offers: CRM, ERP, Accounting, Warehousing and more. Exactly the products ISV's where building very successfully in FoxPro. Microsoft buys FoxPro, kills it and recommends you to rewrite your products as enhancements to their offerings. Sounds like a brilliant strategy! Perhaps it's time to switch to a tool-vendor that doesn't compete with your core business!