From http://msdn.microsoft.com/vfoxpro/letters/
March 2004 Letter from the Editor
There are many exciting announcements in this month's letter, so we'll dive
right into the details.
There is life on Europa... Visual FoxPro 9.0!
Announcing here formally (insert mental drum roll here)... the next version
of Visual FoxPro from Microsoft, code named Europa, will be named Visual
FoxPro 9.0. Visual FoxPro 9.0 is scheduled to be released during the second
half of this year. Announcing the official name of the next version of
Visual FoxPro now will allow upcoming articles, conferences, events, etc. to
freely use the name Visual FoxPro 9.0 instead of the Europa code name.
Oh, beta!
This coming June, Microsoft will release a public beta version of Visual
FoxPro 9.0 on msdn.com for anyone world-wide to download and install for
free!
Life is like a box of Visual FoxPro 9.0
We have recently started the process with the packaging and branding group
within Microsoft to create the product box for Visual FoxPro 9.0. It is very
likely that the screen shot used on the back of the Visual FoxPro 9.0 box
will be of the enhanced Report Writer. For the Visual FoxPro 8.0
back-of-the-box product highlight listing, I was unable to convince the team
that we should include a bullet item for the return of the Puzzle: ACTIVATE
WINDOW Puzzle
FoxTalk Reloaded
FoxTalk has been in existence for many years and is a great technical
resource for FoxPro developers. I was a contributing author and editor of
FoxTalk during the early days of GenScrnX and the new object-oriented
features of Visual FoxPro 3.0. The publishers of FoxTalk, Ragan
Communications (which acquired Pinnacle Publishing 15 months ago), have
recently been making some big decisions concerning FoxTalk.
After talking with the FoxTalk team at Ragan, we've come up with a plan to
make the publication better than ever. FoxTalk welcomes to the team David
Stevenson who is an experienced technical editor. Additionally, FoxTalk will
now include a monthly column submitted by the VFP team at Microsoft called
"Tips from the VFP Team", to give an insider's view of how to get the most
from VFP. Along with the editorial changes, Ragan has decided to offer a new
lower subscription rate! Ragan has confirmed with me that all of these
changes will begin with the May 2004 issue of the publication now called
FoxTalk 2.0. While Microsoft will be contributing monthly to the FoxTalk 2.0
publication, editor David Stevenson and the FoxTalk team will of course make
all of the decisions regarding content, editing, etc. For example, if the
VFP team suggests an article on the FoxPro "Puzzle", they may decline for
other content readers would prefer to see.
You should expect to see articles in FoxTalk 2.0 submitted by VFP team
members as well as the top FoxPro authors world-wide. Stay tuned for more
information about FoxTalk 2.0 and visit to subscribe at PinPub.com or renew
your subscription today to show your support for FoxTalk while obtaining
great upcoming Visual FoxPro content. The June issue of FoxTalk 2.0 will be
dedicated exclusively to articles and information on Visual FoxPro 9.0 to
complement the upcoming free public beta download on msdn.com. The May issue
of FoxTalk 2.0 will include more details from the editor on the plans for
exciting upcoming issues.
Hocus pocus, more CoDe Focus
David Stevenson, while previously working at EPS Software, worked with the
VFP team on the special CoDe Focus issue for Visual FoxPro 8.0. The VFP team
is currently working with Markus Egger at EPS Software on another great CoDe
Focus issue for Visual FoxPro 9.0. That special issue is scheduled to be
released and given to attendees at Advisor DevCon in Las Vegas, September
29, when we launch Visual FoxPro 9.0. The Visual FoxPro 8.0 issue of CoDe
Focus, as well as a new issue on the topic of Office 2003, can be found free
online at code-magazine.com/focus.
FoxPro books in your FoxToolbox.com
The online e-commerce store FoxToolbox.com, owned by DBX-Technologies, is a
great resource for obtaining Visual FoxPro, Visual Studio .NET 2003, and
MSDN Subscriptions as well as third party add-on products for Visual FoxPro.
Our friends at FoxToolbox.com, including Jim Eddins, are busy working on
plans to create, publish, and sell Visual FoxPro books on the upcoming
release of Visual FoxPro 9.0. David Stevenson, the new technical editor for
FoxTalk 2.0, is working part-time with the folks at DBX on their Visual
FoxPro book publishing plans.
The Eight FoxPro wonders of the world
Yet more exciting news in the FoxPro community is the fact there will be
eight conferences world-wide this year focusing on Visual FoxPro.
DevEssentials - June in Kansas City, MO
DevTeach - June in Montreal, Canada
Praha DevCon - June in Prague, Czech Republic
Advisor DevCon - September in Las Vegas, NV
SouthwestFox - October in Phoenix, AZ
Germany DevCon - November in Frankfurt, Germany
PortalFox Conference - November in La Coruna, Spain
OzFox - November in Sydney, Australia
Take one Tablet PC with VFP and call me in the morning
Later this month, we will be posting a new whitepaper on msdn.com called
Creating Tablet PC Applications with Microsoft Visual FoxPro written by Mike
Stewart of the VFP team. This new whitepaper will complement the article by
Markus Egger of EPS Software in the July 2003 issue of FoxPro Advisor
Magazine entitled Build Tablet PC Applications with Visual FoxPro. For more
information on Microsoft's strategy with Tablet PCs, refer to the ZDNet
article called Microsoft swallows tablet concept whole. In case you missed
it, Visual FoxPro was recently mentioned in an article on InternetNews.com
called Small Business Embraces the Tablet.
AccountMate of the Month
Last month in San Francisco, Softline AccountMate introduced a new interface
to its software line at Evolution (its reseller conference). I spoke at a
general session to almost 200 attendees, most of whom were FoxPro developers
who have not yet upgraded to Visual FoxPro 8.0 but who plan to do so soon
with the new release of AccountMate 6.5. It was stressed in AccountMate's
keynote presentation that Visual FoxPro 8.0 played a significant role in
AccountMate's new version 6.5 release. Most people (including the press) at
the conference were amazed what AccountMate has done in the user interface
using Visual FoxPro 8.0. The event made the news for Accounting Technology ,
which has 30,000 readers with 3 times that via pass along rate. AccountMate
and AccPac are now both owned by the same parent company, see the article
Best Strikes Again.
A case of FoxPro identity
We have several new case studies highlighting solutions based on Visual
FoxPro 8.0 submitted to the case study team at Microsoft which are currently
in the process of being posted on the Microsoft web site. These case studies
will be targeting non-developers such as IT managers, decision makers, and
executives. When the upcoming case studies on Visual FoxPro 8.0 are added to
the Microsoft case studies web site, we will also make sure that the proper
announcements go out about them in various Microsoft newsletters such as
MSDN Flash, just like what occurs for Visual Studio and other case studies
announced. Stay tuned for these new Visual FoxPro 8.0 case studies to be
posted, and when they are, we will include links to them on the Visual
FoxPro home page.
Don't get blogged down without weblogs
The new VS Data Team's WebBlog will have regular entries from VS Data group
manager Alan Griver, myself, and others on the VS Data team, which includes
the VFP team. The list of Microsoft employees and teams with their own
weblogs is growing weekly at blogs.msdn.com.
We encourage FoxPro developers to consider creating their own blog to
discuss FoxPro related topics. A great example of a FoxPro related weblog is
Craig Bernston's FoxBlog. For FoxPro developers adding .NET Framework
programming to their toolbox of knowledge, read Rick Strahl's WebLog. For
more generalized geek topics, check out master blog commander Robert
Scoble's weblog at Scobleizer. For more Visual FoxPro resources in general,
check out the listings on the Visual FoxPro Dev Center at Related
Communities for Visual FoxPro.
March to the beat of the FoxPro drum
Here are some calls to action for all FoxPro developers to consider. It is
important to not only say thanks to the vendors and sponsors within the
community, but to also be active to show your support. Upgrade to Visual
FoxPro 8.0 via product or MSDN at FoxtoolBox.com. Subscribe to BOTH FoxTalk
2.0 and FoxPro Advisor. Attend at least one Visual FoxPro conference this
year to learn about Visual FoxPro 9.0, make contacts with other Visual
FoxPro developers, and help continue to improve our great FoxPro community.
As Gordon Gecko says in the movie Wall Street, "The most valuable commodity
I know is information."
Same Fox time, same Fox channel
If you missed reading any of the letters from previous months, check them
out at the side bar links on this web page under Archive. In next month's
letter, we will have more Visual FoxPro whitepapers, new Visual FoxPro 8.0
sample downloads posted on msdn.com, and more juicy details on new features
coming in Visual FoxPro 9.0.
Ken Levy
VS Data Product Manager
Microsoft
E-mail: klevy@microsoft.com
--
Cindy Winegarden MCSD, Microsoft Visual FoxPro MVP
cindy.winegarden@mvps.org www.cindywinegarden.com