Running Visual FoxPro On Linux Using Wine
Visual FoxPro can run on Linux by using an open source project called Wine, which is basicallya substitute API. Wine is still in alpha stage, so Visual FoxPro support on Linux is not yetcomplete. This session offers a practical overview of the current state of affairs of running VisualFoxPro on Wine – what works, what does not, and how to set up a reliable install of VisualFoxPro or a runtime version of an application built with VFP on your Linux workstation. Thiswhitepaper is VFP8-centric, but should apply to other versions as well. Companies all over the world, and of all different sizes and makeups, have internal applicationsbuilt with Visual FoxPro. Their investments in these applications are safe for the next 5 years atleast, provided they stick with Microsoft Windows on the desktop. Since 1998, when Linux really hit the mainstream in the server arena, it has been steadily gaining new users, mostly developers, until we come to early 2003 when normal users startedmigrating to the Linux desktop as well. No one really knows how much of Microsoft’scommanding market share of the desktop will fall to Linux, but we already know of a few states,countries, and municipalities that have mandated it, and of companies large and small that havecommitted resources to switching their desktops from Windows to Linux.