Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!att!cbnewsi!rw
From: rw@cbnewsi.att.com (robert.h.wentworth)
Newsgroups: comp.databases
Subject: Database for IBM PC (adaptable to mailorder business)?
Message-ID: <1990Aug1.053314.1946@cbnewsi.att.com>
Date: 1 Aug 90 05:33:14 GMT
Sender: rw@cbnewsi.att.com (robert.h.wentworth)
Distribution: na
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories
Lines: 38

This is an elementary survey question regarding data base programs for
IBM PC compatibles.  I'd like to know what major products are available
that might suit our purposes, and what the general merits of each are...

Our application:

An uncle of mine runs a small mail-order plant
nursery.  He needs software to (1) handle mailing lists, (2) handle
orders (i.e., should be able to enter minimal information and recognize
old customers, enter catalog numbers or item names and get item data
on price, availability, etc., keep track of whether orders have been
processed, print packing lists, etc.), and (3) keep track of inventory
(items sold, available, $, etc.).

My uncle tells me that he's seen ads for commercial systems aimed at
mail-order businesses that go for $30k (far out of proportion to the
size of his business).  He's considering writing something "simple"
from the ground up---but he's basically a talented person with minimal
programming experience, and this seems to me to be a relatively
inefficient way to solve the problem.  I've never done anything
remotely related to data-bases (though I've done a lot of
programming), but it seem to me likely that this is exactly the sort
of thing one ought to be able to set up using a good programmable
data-base program.  Am I right, or am I misguided about how data base
programs work?

Suggestions on approaches to solving the problem?  Recommendations for
programs?  Criteria include flexibility for detailed customization,
ease of use of the final product, and expandability as the business grows.
(He already has a PC, so the hardware is fixed.)

We'd appreciate any relevant comments.

-- 
Robert H. Wentworth (201)888-7195 |"Give me back my innocence
AT&T BL HOHL-171, Holmdel NJ      | Get me a a new Cadillac
rhw@hoh-1.att.com		  | Cause when I get on up to heaven Lord
att!hoh-1!rhw			  | You can have it all back" -L.Anderson