Five years ago: Microsoft resuscitates FoxPro

Microsoft's forgotten product will get a new breath of life with the news that a new version of the Visual FoxPro database has been released to manufacturing. Although Big Green paid big bucks for the product it bought three years ago, it has taken a back seat to Access and Visual Basic over the last 18 months.

As with all Microsoft's new products, Visual FoxPro 5.0 gets new intra-net and Internet hooks, including ActiveX support. Also new is a revamped debugger with trace and watch windows, and a new editor, with colour-coding support. More application generation Wizards have also been added, including an Upsizing Wizard lets users move data to an Oracle database.

Microsoft also claims the new release will offer faster object performance, more efficient use of memory, and faster data retrieval. Pricing is to be announced.