Over the last years I have received multiple messages at hotline@dfpug.de and also seen several posts in our forum at http://forum.dfpug.de as well as other sites with questions - questions that were simply answered in former issues of FoxTalk and/or the Advisor Guide to Visual FoxPro (FoxPro Advisor).
Maybe some developers find it easier to post a question on the favorite site, but think of the knowledge you are missing by not subscribing. Wisdom from fellow developers. Developers struggling with the same day-to-day development work you are struggling with. Developers who are more than inclined to share their knowledge with anyone willing to read their articles.
Is it the cost? Is it the time to invest in reading? Is it the lack of knowing that there are excellent publications to subscribe to for FoxPro content? Is your boss not willing to pay for it?
I can tell you I have subscribed to both mags for more than a decade. Always out of my own pocket. The reason is simple: I invest in my career. I also did not want to share the mags with my co-workers each month when the issues arrived. I want my own set of archives. I read them in my own time. The investment has paid off in a big way.
Both FoxTalk and Advisors Guide to Visual FoxPro had on-line content. You can download solutions and examples immediately. In one case, the developer was looking for ideas about managing security and Doug Hennig is in the middle of a series on Security Roles and has a Security Manager object in the downloads. For US$99 per year, the developer looking for ideas can get everything he needs to get started with an on-line subscription. Several other developers were experiencing the "Variable _REPORTOUTPUT is not found" error when the VFP 9 Report applications are not distributed together with your application. Uwe Habermann's article in FoxTalk clearly addresses all the runtime issues Fox developers face with the new reporting engine. A brilliant article.
Make it a belated "Easter resolution" to subscribe to the new periodical FoxRockX if you are not yet doing so. Save yourself a bundle of time and money by investing US$99. Do it now so you do not have to worry another minute about the excellent reading you are missing. Go ahead, it won't hurt.
If you are a subscriber of FoxTalk, or if you are a subscriber of FoxPro Advisor in Germany, we will take over your subscription anyhow. But if you have given up on FoxTalk recently or would like to continue receiving the great articles from your expired FoxPro Advisor subscription we can help. And we have put all the past issues back on-line for you, back to 1996, including source code.