Hi Scott,
> then there is the ease of installation (has to be brain dead easy)
> ongoing maintenance (has to be almost zero)
> foot print (smaller than a gnat's)
> security risks (none, none, and absolutely none)
Hey, those requirements ring a bell :)
Not to be sarcastic, but why can't you use DBF's for your application?
If security is an issue, check out Xitech's Cryptor.
Rick Strahl (www.west-wind.com) recently blogged about his design
decisions behind continuing to build his Help Builder product in VFP vs.
.NET. Rick's thought process on this topic is also documented in a
recent issue of FoxTalk or FoxPro Advisor. One of Rick's conclusions
was that it made sense to keep his Help Builder product in VFP, even
though he was targeting .NET customers (!), because of the footprint and
performance of VFP's data engine.
As for my own desktop based software products (marketed mainly to
Fortune 2000 firms), if I had to use MSDE or SQL Server Express as my
backend, I would probably lose 90+% of my customer base. At this point
in time, I would probably lose a similar percentage of customers if I
required a fully serviced pack .NET 1.1 (or upcoming .NET 2.0) CLR in
order to run my software.
Malcolm
©2005 Malcolm Greene |
