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FileMaker's quiet, sustained success over the years makes you wonder why Microsoft didn't spin off FoxPro in the same way that Apple spun off Claris. Perhaps th

• signal11 6y ago
  > why Microsoft didn't spin off FoxPro in the same way They have Microsoft Access, which is the sort of spiritual heir to FoxPro, and is bundled with higher tiers of Microsoft Office. Access has lots of users across industries. Access is bundled with 'Pro' editions of Office and [Office] 365 Business Standard. Wikipedia has an interesting account of how post-acquisition FoxPro and Access were developed in parallel. Looking at both[1], it seems that the critical point was when Office 2007 was being developed, when Access got a new file format (presumably making it future-ready). FoxPro's demise was announced shortly after Office 2007 was released, although it was supported till Jan 2015. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Access https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Access ; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_FoxPro https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_FoxPro