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From: UH2@PSUVM.BITNET (Lee Sailer)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac,comp.databases,comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: inexpensive relational DBM
Message-ID: <89259.110644UH2@PSUVM.BITNET>
Date: 16 Sep 89 15:06:44 GMT
References: <4812@uhccux.uhcc.hawaii.edu>
Organization: Penn State University
Lines: 29

In article <4812@uhccux.uhcc.hawaii.edu>, jgt@uhccux.uhcc.hawaii.edu (John
>
>I don't want to incur the expenses and time on heavy-duty
>    DBM software, such as, Foxbase, Double Helix, 4th Dimension,
>    dbMac, etc.

This sounds like a false economy, to me.  You are going to spend many, many
hours creating this database, and users are going to spend even more hours
using it.  If you seriously consider these human costs, you will see that
the price difference between a $200 package and a $800 package is
insignificant.

The cheaper packages are usually lacking some important features or
capabilities.  You might not need them today, but you will a year from
now.  I have seen to many cases where people spend a year building a
database in Reflex, for example, only to eventually rebuild it in
RBase because Reflex wouldn't do what they needed.  ouch!

Also, discounts are often available.  For example, RBase lists for about
$800, can be found mail order for $500, and can be purchased by Penn State
employees for $200.

Lastly, and no offense, but it sounds to me from the way you ask your
question that you still don't have a very good idea of what Relational
Databases are.  I suggest you hit the library for some good books on
Database Analysis and Design.  See section QA76.  In your case, I'd
suggest looking for textbooks designed for MIS, CIS, or IS majors.

                                                                  lee