June 2005 - Letter from the Editor
This month's letter contains information about Microsoft's roadmap for Visual FoxPro, new content on the Visual FoxPro Developer Center, and various VFP community news.
Visual FoxPro Roadmap
Read the Microsoft Visual FoxPro Roadmap document outlining the plans for enhancing Visual FoxPro beyond version 9.0. Our goal now that the Visual FoxPro Roadmap is released is that there won't be anything that insiders know that members in the Visual FoxPro community won't know. We want to expose all that Microsoft is planning, thinking, doing, etc. (transparency) around Visual FoxPro long term so there are nothing to assume or guess. The Visual FoxPro team has already started working on enhancing Visual FoxPro beyond version 9.0 code named Sedna (aside from service pack efforts). Our goals and focus is on how Visual FoxPro apps run in 5+ years rather than on specific Visual FoxPro IDE, engine, and language features.
There are many things we can and will do for enhancing Visual FoxPro to interop more and more with the Microsoft .NET platform. In fact, our plans for enhancing Visual FoxPro for .NET interop is our primary goal for enhancing Visual FoxPro going forward. We will also be enhancing functionality for Visual FoxPro reports, productivity, and other areas that have nothing to do with .NET (VFP stand-alone). We want to focus on having Visual FoxPro leverage as much as possible integrated into the .NET platform using COM interop. We plan to release new information on a regular monthly basis on our efforts around Sedna.
Visual FoxPro 9.0 Service Pack 1 scheduled for end of 2005
A Service Pack 1 for Visual FoxPro 9.0 has been started by the VFP team and is scheduled to be released close to the end this year based on feedback, reports, etc. SP1 for Visual FoxPro 9.0 is completely independent of our plans on enhancing Visual FoxPro in the future and has nothing to do with the Sedna project outlined in the Visual FoxPro Roadmap. Visual FoxPro 9.0 is by far the most stable version of Visual FoxPro we have ever released with very few issues reported.
Many great Visual FoxPro books available
Last month I was talking with Whil Hentzen about the various VFP books available through www.Hentzenwerke.com. I received a copy of the book What's New in Nine: Visual FoxPro's Latest Hits and the VFP team thinks this is a really great book. Check out the table of contents and you'll see the book is packed with great chapters on the various new features in Visual FoxPro 9.0. If you currently use or plan to use VFP 9.0, I strongly suggest you get a copy of this book which also includes an electronic eBook download. Since VFP 9.0 is backward compatible with previous version of VFP, all the various VFP books on www.Hentzenwerke.com apply to VFP 9.0 and you can save 50% or more buying several books at once.
.NET for Visual FoxPro Developers book online for free
The complete 500 page .NET for Visual FoxPro Developers book written by Kevin McNeish and edited by Cathi Gero is now online. This book has been made available through the cooperation between Hentzenwerke Publishing, Microsoft Corporation, and the book author Kevin McNeish.
Call for Visual FoxPro 9.0 case studies
Microsoft is working on adding new Visual FoxPro 9.0 case studies for the Microsoft Customer Evidence web site. For more details on this effort, refer to my blog post Call for Visual FoxPro 9.0 case studies. We have several new Visual FoxPro 9.0 case studies in the queue and we would like to continue to add more great success stories to help promote the use of Visual FoxPro 9.0 for data-centric application development. For some related Visual FoxPro case study references, refer to the ones I've listed below:
TechTarget.com: Visual FoxPro 9.0 more SQL Server friendly
VFP MVP Andy Kramek blogged about his interview with TechTarget.com for the resent article Visual FoxPro 9.0 with SQL Server. I was also had a phone interview with the TechTarget journalist Jennifer Lawinski to answer questions on the topic of VFP 9.0 as a client to SQL Server. Dave Bernard of the Atlanta FoxPro User Group was also interviewed. The article is short but to the point, and reaches a wide audience of SQL Server admins, developers, and managers.
SP4 released for or both SQL Server 2000 and MSDE 2000
Visual FoxPro 9.0 (as well as VFP 8.0 and VFP 7.0) includes MSDE 2000 on the CD for optional installation. In addition to providing the latest updates and fixes, SQL Server 2000 SP4 provides enhanced performance, security, and serviceability.
Visual FoxPro 9.0 EULA posted online
The Visual FoxPro 9.0 EULA (end user license agreement) and the Distributable and Restricted Visual FoxPro Features and Files documents are now online.
Visual FoxPro VFPCOM utility updated for Visual FoxPro 9.0
The VFPCOM utility is a COM server that provides additional functionality when you use ADO and access COM events with your Visual FoxPro 9.0 applications. This VFPCOM Utility is also compatible with Visual FoxPro 8.0.
Visual FoxPro 9.0 event tour in June
Myself and other members of the Visual FoxPro team will be speaking at various Visual FoxPro events in June starting with Advisor VFP DevCon 2005 in Las Vegas June 12-15. If you are interested in attending Advisor VFP DevCon 2005 and have not registered yet and have missed the early bird discount, register mentioning my June letter here and receive a $100 off the normal registration price. For other locations that I will be speaking at this month promoting Visual FoxPro 9.0, refer to my blog post Visual FoxPro 9.0 event tour in June. The event tour includes speaking 5 countries in less than a 3 week duration including Praha DevCon 2005 in Prague June 21st-23rd. Nothing demos like the Fox (VFP 9.0)!
Channel 9 video on Visual FoxPro 9.0 views is ranked #6
The Channel 9 video on First Look at Visual FoxPro 9 went from 82,500 to over 108,000 view counts in the past month moving it from #9 to #6 out of about 450 videos total. A new Channel 9 video focusing on demos of Visual FoxPro 9.0 working with Visual Studio 2005 plus some new VFP features being worked on for Sedna is scheduled to be released sometime in mid June. If you understand Spanish, some members of the Spanish speaking VFP community have created a new web site called Channel9 Fox.
There will be more content and news on the Visual FoxPro Developer Center in June and in early July. For more frequently announced Visual FoxPro news items, refer to my blog at http://blogs.msdn.com/klevy.
Ken Levy
VS Data Product Manager
Microsoft
http://msdn.com/vfoxpro