The Ages of Fox (by John Koziol)

Some time back, I mentioned the word "paleovulpic" as pertaining to pre-Visual FoxPro. Well, I was thinking about it today and I realized that the Fox programming eras needed to be more succinctly defined. So here goes:

Protovulpic Era

Desktop database program is ruled by a melange of software.  Fox developers are using dBase, Quicksilver, and Clipper because there is no Fox...yet. This era is dominated by strange creatures such as Jeb Long and media such as the Databased Advisor.

Archaeovolpic Era

The FoxBase era. From 1.0 to multi-user FoxBase Plus, 1985 through 1989. Fox attracts a true following and grows in the Xbase world. Something called a "George Goley" arrives on the scene. Popularity grows, pressuring other 4GLs such as dbXL and Quicksilver.  Clipper and dBase IV hold firm as strong rivals; however, the awesome spped and power of Fox starts to siphon off other database developers.

First Interlingium Era

FoxPro 1.0 is introduced in 1989 and no one knows what the hell to do with it.  Since FoxPro 1.0 was never widely adopted, but, adaptation of Fox-based solutions grew, this period is named such: Translation = First Between Languages Era.  This lasts until 1991.

Paleovulpic Era

This era starts with the introduction of FoxPro 2.0 in 1991 and lasts through FoxPro 2.6 for DOS in 1993. Mass immigration to the new Fox standard. Finally, Fox establishes it's own identity showcasing that blazing data speed it's famous for. Lisa Slater, Jim Booth, and others are seen widely.

Second Interlingium Era

FoxPro 2.5 and 2.6 introduced Windows versions. A short year or so later, Visual FoxPro 3.0 was released. A great schism appeared - those that refused to abandon the 2.x platform and those that wanted to adopt 3.0 but couldn't undertand it. There were a few who figured it all out and embraced Visual FoxPro, but their numbers were so few that I believe that the "interlingium" label applies.

Eschatonic Era

Visual FoxPro 5.0  to present. This era is named such as with every version, people are waiting for the announcement that there will be no future versions.

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