The FoxPro Wiki also has a topic on the VFP license, here, where Jim Nelson seems to really launch into a diatribe with “marketing gimmick,” “sneak changes,” “unsuspecting community.” I agree with his point, although perhaps not with his vitriolic reaction.
Ultimately, this is a failure of the management of the FoxPro group to recognize that they were introducing a change to the product’s licensing, and a failure to alert their customers to the change. It didn’t need to be this traumatic. It simply needed to be presented in the correct light. Or, even better, the license change could have been reconsidered and rejected.