Microsoft’s Move from FoxPro to .NET

By Imran Salahuddin | September 8th, 2015 |

Why was VFP phased out?

In the late 90s Microsoft asserted its presence in the global database management market by acquiring FoxPro Technologies. Acquiring FoxPro was a big success for Microsoft, as the xBase technology was still booming at that time. Microsoft continued to put significant resources toward Access and SQL Server which were still under development, as with VB. FoxPro was a solid product for Microsoft and that key technology evolved into other related products as well.

The growth of client-server technology made Microsoft rethink its development strategy for the FoxPro platform. Client-server technology was gaining in popularity with developers and users alongside the rise of Visual Basic and PowerBuilder tools. Microsoft was entering into the server market with SQL Server and Windows NT by that time.

As the xBase market trended downward, Visual FoxPro sales declined. Microsoft’s FoxPro faced competition from its own tools such as .NET, SQL Server, and VB. These alternative technologies limited the sale of Visual FoxPro. VB, SQL Server and Access became the primary focus for Microsoft.

In order to continue further development in Visual FoxPro Base, Microsoft needed to create a 64-bit environment, which meant that a complete rewrite of the FoxPro code was necessary, which would not have been be cost effective.

In the end, the decision was made to end support and further development of VFP and direct efforts to the .NET Framework tools, which continues to thrive.

Let us know your thoughts on the topic.

Imran Salahuddin

VP of Technology & Migration Services at Macrosoft Inc

Imran serves as Macrosoft’s VP of Technology & Migration Services. With two decades of industry experience, Imran continues to demonstrate his ability to ensure seamless migrations. Imran works with Project Managers, sales/strategy teams, and clients to ensure the successful migration of legacy applications. Moreover, Imran exhibits effective communication skills and an eye for quality service.

As a Microsoft Certified and PMI Project Management Professional, Imran can migrate a myriad of difficult technologies. Most recently, he migrated a VFP legacy application which communicated to networking equipment. Testing the application without detailed knowledge of the domain was the real challenge.

Imran also dedicates his time to IoT (Internet of Things), as well as Online Sales, and looks to improve upon all of Macrosoft’s existing verticals.