DevBlog

Mark your calendar now for the Utah Spring Code Camp. The day is Saturday, April 14 from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM at Neumont University. As always, it's FREE and presented by the community. Code Camps are always light on slideware, high on code. I'll be speaking on "Basics of Windows Communication Foundation". More information is at www.msutahevents.com and you can register at utahcodecamp.eventbrite.com

Mary Jo Foley is reporting that Microsoft may be ready to clamp down on MVP bloggers. While this could happen, I think it would have a huge negative effect on Microsoft.

Microsoft has always considered MVPs to be among its best customers. We tell the good and the bad. Recent Office, Windows, and Visual Studio betas showed a large percentage of bug reports coming from MVPs. But we also champion products. Many MVPs volunteered in January to help demo Office and Vista when the products had their consumer launch. We speak at conferences, write magazine articles, books, and blogs that support Microsoft products. Recently, Microsoft added the phrase "Independent Experts. Real World Answers." as part of their MVP marketing. It's even emblazoned on the shirts and other materials we received at the Summit. The entire MVP program is an award for past support of the community.

As an MVP, I was required to sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) and can't talk about many things Microsoft tells me. If an MVP breaks that NDA, then he should be dropped from the program.

However, if Microsoft threatens to drop someone from the MVP program because they blog about bugs or bad product decisions, the independence is lost. That valuable voice is being silenced. It won't stop the person from blogging about the bugs or decisions. In fact, it could make it worse as that person could blog even more bad things because they were punished. Remember, MVPs do not work for Microsoft. We are independent users and willing share our knowledge and time to help others. We do this for FREE.

When I was named an MVP, I had no idea what the program was or what it meant. I certainly didn't do it for the perks. I did it...and continue to do it...because I enjoy helping others. The status of all MVPs should rest on how they help the community, not on what they may say or blog that Microsoft considers wrong.

Once again, Microsoft has been rated as the company providing the most secure OS. The rating comes from Symantec.

One of the highlights of the MVP Summit last week was the keynote speech by Bill Gates. You can read the transcript online here.

By now, you’ve seen the announcement. There will not be a VFP 10, 11, 12, or v.Next. The powers that be, ie Microsoft, has spoken. Did the official word make you panic or did you panic when I blogged about the end of VFP development here and here in June, 2005?

If you did panic, why? VFP will be supported until 2015. VFP 9.0, SP2 and Sedna will be released by the end of summer. The Sedna components will belong to the community where they can be modified, extended, and enhanced. When VB 6.0 ended, did all developers stop working in VB 6.0? Nope. Are new projects being started in VB 6.0? Yep. Will new projects be started in VFP? Yep. VFP will continue to work for you and your customers for many years.

The VFP homepage will continue to exist until at least 2015. There will be Fox MVPs at least until then, and I think longer. Third-party VFP communities, such as the Universal Thread and FoxForum will continue to exist.

Are you angry at Microsoft? You shouldn’t be. It’s not Microsoft’s responsibility to keep VFP or even keep your skills current. It’s your responsibility to stay current. So, where do you go…what do you do? Here are some ideas:

- Stay with VFP. Keep writing apps as you are.
- Stay with VFP and start to integrate .Net features such as WCF, WPF, or even WinForms using the WinForms Interop Toolkit.
- Move to some other language. It doesn’t have to be a .Net language. You may want to look at Ruby on Rails, Python, Java, or something else. You can even continue working in VFP short term with the language move being long term.
- Move into another field. Perhaps you’re tired of trying to keep up with the constant churn of technology. Look at other career options.
- Retire.
- Something else?

The official end of VFP development should not be the end of your career. In fact in should be an exciting time. One that is full of new opportunities.

I moved into a new apartment over the weekend. Lots of unpacking still to do. I want to get much of it done before leaving for the MVP Summit on Sunday. I'm doing pretty good. My stuff was mostly untouched. Some light smoke damage that can be taken care of and some very minimal water damage to some kitchen stuff. Thanks to everyone who expressed concern and had me in their thoughts and prayers.

It's now four days past the fire. The bad news is that I cannot live there anymore. They have to take off the roof and there are concerns about mold in the walls due to all the water. The good news is I have a new apartment one block south of the old place. It's a bit smaller, but livable. My insurance company is paying for the move and I should be in by the end of the weekend.

Many of you have expressed your concern and support. Thank you! Life should be back to normal soon.