FoxPro Timeline

1984 (December) Fox Software releases FoxBASE., This was a dBASE II work-alike
1985 Fox Software releases Multi-User FoxBase. Also a dBASE II work-alike but with primitive multi-user features
1986 Fox Software releases FoxBASE+ MSDOS. A dBASE III Plus work-alike that helped put Fox Software on the map
1986-1987 Ashton-Tate Attempts to Acquire Fox Software.
1987 FoxBASE+/Mac. This first Macintosh product of Fox Software's captured a majority the Mac database market within a few months of its release. It could be viewed as an initial design study for the first MSDOS version of FoxPro in 1989-90.
1987 (June) Fox BASE+ fox SCO Xenix is released. Foxpro database.
1988 (September) Ashton-Tate sues Fox Software. In december 1990 the suit filed by Ashton-Tate against Fox Software and Santa Cruz Operations for alleged copyright infringement of the dBASE language is dismissed in court (see Ashton-Tate Sues Fox Software).
1988 FoxBASE+ for the Macintosh is the first cross-platform xBase tool.
1989 FoxPro 1989 1.0 MSDOS. This product supported a superset of the dBASE IV language but an entirely new interface most similar to that of FoxBASE+/Mac. This interface has persisted both in the character-oriented MSDOS world and, in graphic form, in both the present-day Windows and Macintosh products.
1990 FoxDoc starts to ship with FoxPro. It was basically a repainted SNAP! (source code documentor developed by Walter Kennamer), wich Fox Software had bought
1990 FoxPro 1.01, 1.02 and 1.03 Bug fixes fox base and foxpro database
1991 (July) FoxPro 2.0 Rushmore™ query technology allows for blazingly fast querying performance. FoxPro 2.0 also introduces a graphical Screen Builder and Report Builder and integrated SOL support.
1991 FoxPro 2.0 MSDOS. This version of FoxPro should be mentioned separately from the 1989 version because it is the first one that incorporated SQL and the Rushmore Technology. The first versions of FoxPro basically incorporated the FoxBASE+ engine under the hood and it wasn't until FoxPro 2.0 that the full flowering of Fox's reputation for stellar performance occurred. FoxPro 2.0 also introduces a graphical Screen Builder and Report Builder.
1992 (June) Microsoft merged with Fox Software in a $173M operation
1993 (January) First Windows version of FoxPro 2.5, Distribution kit available for creating Windows EXEs. It might be noted in passing that FoxPro for Windows was essentially complete at the time of Fox's acquisition by Microsoft in June of 1992 and was released a few months later
1993 FoxPro 2.6 for Macintosh is released.
1993 FoxPro 2.6 for Unix is released.
1993 (June) FoxPro 2.5a, International language support (and multi-line Wait Windows)
1993 (September) FoxPro 2.5b, International language support Added Greek, Polish, Icelandic, & Czech support
1994 (March) FoxPro 2.6, Better dBASE compatibility (over 50 commands enhanced for dBASE) Catalog Manager, more Wizards, codepages and collating sequences.
1994 (August) FoxPro 2.6a, Better dBASE compatibility (over 50 commands enhanced for dBASE) Catalog Manager, more Wizards, true Null support
1995 Dave Fulton retires from Microsoft
1995 (June) Visual FoxPro 3.0, FoxPro evolves from a procedural language to an object-oriented language . Visual FoxPro 3.0 introduces a database container, seamless client/server capabilities, support for ActiveX™ technologies, and OLE Automation and null support. Its prerelease codename was Taz.
1995 Visual FoxPro 3.0 for Macintosh is released. Its prerelease codename was Speedy
1996 There was never a released version called VFP 4.0. What started out to be VFP 4.0 in the beta process ended up becoming VFP 5.0 as Microsoft decided to synchronize the version numbers for VB, VC++ and VFP, when it went into Visual Studio. Its prerelease codename was Renard.
1996 (October) Visual FoxPro 5.0 adds improved support for ActiveX, COM component creation, a radically new debugger, integration with the Visual SourceSafe™ version control system and the ability to create Visual FoxPro - based Web applications. Its prerelease codename was RoadRunner.
1997 (October) Visual FoxPro 5.0a ships
1997 Visual FoxPro ships as part of Visual Studio 97
1998 (May, 18) Visual FoxPro 6.0 is released. Its prerelease codename was Tahoe.
1998 Andrew Forber develops a Divide by Zero patch for FPW 2.x
1998 (September) Microsoft releases Divide by Zero patch for FPW 2.6a
1999 (July) MS announced that support for FoxPro 2.x would be discontinued in six months. But it was supported all the way to Jan/Feb 2000, and gave help with Y2K issues in December.
1999 (December) Microsoft releases FoxPro patch for fast PCs (file that updates the FoxPro for Windows version 2.6a development environment and run time to eliminate startup errors encountered on computers operating at clock speeds of about 333 MHz and faster). See PATCH: FoxPro 2.6a Patch Files for FoxPro 2.6 and PATCH: Patch_26.exe Fixes Divide by Zero Error on Fast Computers
2001 (June, 27) Visual FoxPro 7.0 is released. Its prerelease codename was Sedona.
2003 (February, 1) Visual FoxPro 8.0 is released. Its prerelease codename was Toledo.
2003 (July 31) Microsoft launches the Visual FoxPro Developer Center on MSDN. The new Visual FoxPro web site includes a monthly news letter by Ken Levy, product manager of VS Data Product Manager.
See also: Visual FoxPro Developer Center
See also: Letter From The Editor
2003 (October, 7) Microsoft releases Service Pack 1 for Visual FoxPro 8.0.
2004 (January) Whil Hentzen of Hentzenwerke Publishing announces he will no longer publish new books on FoxPro and Visual FoxPro.
2004 (February 9) Whil Hentzen announces Pinnacle, the publisher of the FoxTalk magazine, has decided to stop publishing the magazine.
2004 (March 5) Microsoft announces the launch of Visual FoxPro 9 on September 29, 2004 at the DevCon in Las Vegas. In addition, Microsoft announces a new version of the FoxTalk magazine, called FoxTalk 2.0. fox base
See also: FoxTalk 2.0
2004 (June 3) Microsoft releases a public beta version of Visual FoxPro 9.
2004 (December 20) Microsoft releases VFP9 RTM.
2005 (March 15) Microsoft MVP Andrew MacNeill launches The Fox Show
2005 (March 18) Eric den Doop from the Netherlands, creator and webmaster of the Foxite.COM Community Website and Microsoft MVP for VFP, launches a free Community Weblog Service for VFP Developers and enthusiasts.
See also: weblogs.foxite.com
See also: Letter From The Editor
2005 (September 23) Microsoft releases a public beta version of VFP9 Service Pack 1
2005 (December 8) Microsoft releases VFP9 Service Pack 1
See also: Visual FoxPro 9.0 Service Pack 1 (SP1) Download Page
2006 (January 31) Ken Levy leaving MS VFP Team
See also: From product manager to product planner

Timeline According to Dr David Fulton

The actual chronology of Fox Software's products prior to the acquisition by Microsoft was:

FoxBase 1984 MSDOS: This was a dBASE II work-alike
Multi-User FoxBase 1985 MSDOS & UNIX: Also a dBASE II work-alike but with primitive multi-user features
Fox BASE + 1986 MSDOS: A dBASE III Plus work-alike that (together with a celebrated lawsuit) helped put Fox Software on the map.
FoxBASE+/Mac 1987 Macintosh: This first Macintosh product of Fox Software's captured a majority the Mac database market within a few months of its release. It could be viewed as an initial design study for the first MSDOS version of FoxPro in 1989-90.
FoxPro 1989 MSDOS: This product supported a superset of the dBASE IV language but an entirely new interface most similar to that of FoxBASE+/Mac. This interface has persisted both in the character-oriented MSDOS world and, in graphic form, in both the present-day Windows and Macintosh products.
FoxPro 2.0 1991 MSDOS: This version of FoxPro should be mentioned separately from the 1989 version because it is the first one that incorporated SQL and the Rushmore Technology. The first versions of FoxPro basically incorporated the FoxBASE+ engine under the hood and it wasn't until FoxPro 2.0 that the full flowering of Fox's reputation for stellar performance occurred.

It might be noted in passing that FoxPro for Windows was essentially complete at the time of Fox's acquisition by Microsoft in June of 1992 and was released a few months later.

If other questions arise, I will try to help. (I am more than moderately familiar with both the history of FoxPro and its inner workings ... at least up until 1994.) foxpro database

Dave Fulton

(Source: http://vvet.narod.ru/foxpro/_foxy6.html#target279)

History Summary of Fox Releases

History

FoxBase+ for DOS
FoxBase+ for SCO Unix/Xenix
FoxPro for DOS 1.0
FoxPro for DOS 1.01
FoxPro for DOS 1.02
FoxPro for DOS 1.21
FoxPro for DOS 2.0
FoxPro for DOS 2.1
FoxPro for DOS 2.5
FoxPro for DOS 2.5a
FoxPro for DOS 2.5b
FoxPro for DOS 2.6
FoxPro for DOS 2.6a
FoxPro Library Construction Kit for DOS 2.5
FoxPro Library Construction Kit for DOS 2.5a
FoxPro Library Construction Kit for DOS 2.5b
FoxPro Library Construction Kit for DOS 2.6a
FoxPro for Macintosh 1.21
FoxPro for Macintosh 2.01
FoxPro for Macintosh 2.1
FoxPro for Macintosh 2.5
FoxPro for Macintosh 2.5a
FoxPro for Macintosh 2.5b
FoxPro for Macintosh 2.5c
FoxPro for Macintosh 2.6
FoxPro for Macintosh 2.6a
FoxPro for Power Macintosh 2.6a
FoxPro for Windows 2.0
FoxPro for Windows 2.5
FoxPro for Windows 2.5a
FoxPro for Windows 2.5b
FoxPro for Windows 2.5c
FoxPro for Windows 2.6
FoxPro for Windows 2.6a
Visual FoxPro 3.0
Visual FoxPro 5.0
Visual FoxPro 6.0
Visual FoxPro 7.0
Visual FoxPro 8.0
Visual FoxPro for the Macintosh 3.0

Home TOC

If you have any information that can help us to compile this history, please, send us a message. Thanks!