The Visual FoxPro team at Microsoft has been working on a new project code-named Sedna.

Instead of releasing new versions of FoxPro, Microsoft will release core portions of the FoxPro software. The new project was code-named "Sedna" after a recently discovered and very distant celestial object and is planned as a set of add-ins for VFP 9.

Sedna takes advantage of enhancements in Visual FoxPro 9.0. The primary goal of Sedna is to expand on the ability of Visual FoxPro-based solutions to better integrate with other Microsoft products and technologies. It will provide interoperability with parts of the .NET Framework and improve compatibility with SQL Server 2005, as well as provide wrappers for Vista APIs that make it easier to write applications for Vista machines.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/vfoxpro/bb190293.aspx

As mentioned earlier, clients should not be concerned about the impact, in all likelihood by the time it will take to become an issue, business systems and technology changes would probably require new strategies to remain competitive.

It is interesting to note that even today many businesses still continue effectively to run operating and other systems that are no longer fully supported.

Most customised software applications are substantial investments that work extremely well and can continue with or without updates for many years as there are no foreseen benefits to transition to other platforms with additional inherent hardware and support costs.

Elmbrook’s developers have for years always carefully considered what the best strategy is for its client’s software and will continue to do so. It may be that some parts of larger systems can be migrated but this would only be proposed after full evaluation and consultation with the customer.

Fortunately our experience in transitioning products and data conversion will make any required changes as easy as possible when the time eventually comes.