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From: ralphc@tekcae.CAX.TEK.COM (Ralph Carpenter)
Newsgroups: comp.databases
Subject: Re: Database for IBM PC (adaptable to mailorder business)?
Summary: Paradox is a good choice, and currently very inexpensive ($150)
Keywords: Paradox3, nursery software
Message-ID: <6362@tekgen.BV.TEK.COM>
Date: 4 Aug 90 03:01:50 GMT
References: <1990Aug1.053314.1946@cbnewsi.att.com>
Sender: news@tekgen.BV.TEK.COM
Reply-To: ralphc@tekcae.CAX.TEK.COM (Ralph Carpenter)
Followup-To: comp.databases
Distribution: usa
Organization: Tektronix, Inc., Beaverton,  OR.
Lines: 56

In article <1990Aug1.053314.1946@cbnewsi.att.com> rw@cbnewsi.att.com (robert.h.wentworth) writes:
>This is an elementary survey question regarding data base programs for
>IBM PC compatibles....
> (text deleted)
>An uncle of mine runs a small mail-order plant
>nursery.  He needs software to (1) handle mailing lists....
> (text deleted)
>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?....(text deleted)
>(He already has a PC, so the hardware is fixed.)

Paradox3 has received *very* good reviews from all the magazines I've seen so
far.  On top of that, the cost of the Paradox3 runtime package is only $29.95
for *unlimited* copies allowed to anyone you wish to sell your application to,
with *no* royalties.  Relative to other dbms packages I've seen, that's a very
attractive feature.  To make it even more attractive, anyone with a (any) page
or any original disk from any version of dbase, rbase, dataease, or one other
competitor's dbms package can get a full version of Paradox3 for only $150.

The 'upgrade' process can either be done by paying for an upgrade mailer kit
at your local software retailer (Egghead sells them for $145) to mail your
diskette or page into Borland. Or it can be done over the phone, by calling
800+331-0877 with a copy of a manual of the product you're 'upgrading' from
to read from as the operator validates you by asking the author's name.  
About 2-3 weeks later UPS will drop a complete Paradox3 package on your door-
step.  At the same time that this is going on, Egghead will have sold many
copies of the very same materiel for $495 to customers who are avoiding the
$725 retail price.

The August 1990 issue of the Data Based Advisor, pp 82-87, features a case 
study of how Paradox was used to develop an application specifically for
the nursery market.  It is an interesting article, and the author seems to
have done a very good job with Paradox.  If I were in the market, I'd give
him a call first.  According to the article, his name is James M. Gersonde,
Evergreen Systems, Inc., Crest Hill, IL. (815) 729-4040.

I have no connection with Borland or Mr. Gersonde.  I do like Paradox3, and
enjoy using and writing applications with it.  My employer has no connection
with my opinions on this matter either.

Ralph Carpenter
Sr Software Engineer
Tektronix, Inc.
Beaverton, OR