Well; this doesn't answer the later question, but I can say "No" with a certain amount of certainty.

The email excerpt below is about what is happening with ".net"

Date sent: Wed, 7 Feb 2001 08:10:36 -0800

.net is big, it is MS's new idea to put everything on the web, such as Office, Visual Studios and other programs. So what happens is that you "Rent" the programs when you use them and when you don't use them you don't pay for them, this way you have access to ALL of the Microsoft products and you just pay as you use. MS is backing off on this because people like to own their software not rent it, also what happens when your network goes down... You would be completely dead in the water cause all your programs are on the web.

We were actually biding to do some of the testing for .net but the project was scrapped and is now being "reinvented" to suit the masses or Bill's idea of the .net. I would not download the beta, all it is a part that points the machine to an unstable server, and that is not a good thing. So I recommend doing nothing of the sort. Just continue using what you are.

do either of you know if .NET (their "new" technology being forced upon us as "Visual studio .NET" (aka; visual studio 7) is being dumped?

Massive changes are in place for .net, but first we were told that .NET was a "new" product; not a replacement, then it was clear that .net is the next version of visual studio.

Anyway; I heard 3 rumours from good (but not ms) sources that .net was being dropped.

Among the rumours was that VFP & VB were being merged ultimately (VFP 7 is already done, but the next version would be 8;) and it woudl dump native .dbf support.

anyway; have you
A) Heard these?
B) know if they are true?
C) Know anyone "on the inside" that might know?