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From: glenn@welch.jhu.edu (Glenn M. Mason)
Newsgroups: comp.databases
Subject: Re: Market share for DOS database products
Message-ID: <1991Apr21.004144.16332@welch.jhu.edu>
Date: 21 Apr 91 00:41:44 GMT
References: <71280@brunix.UUCP> <1991Apr18.230012.12838@dbase.A-T.COM>
Reply-To: glenn@welchlab.welch.jhu.edu (Glenn M. Mason)
Organization: Welch Medical Library, Baltimore
Lines: 48

In article <1991Apr18.230012.12838@dbase.A-T.COM> awd@dbase.A-T.COM (Alastair Dallas) writes:
>In article <71280@brunix.UUCP>, pew@cs.brown.edu (Peter E. Wagner) writes:
>> Does anyone know the approximate market share breakdown for database
>> software in the MS-DOS realm?  What about for just dBase dialects?
>
>This is very non-scientific; I'm quoting my recollection of press
>accounts--if I knew corporate secrets, I couldn't tell you (well, I
>could tell you, but I'd have to kill you :-):
>
>	dBASE III+/IV:	47%
>	Paradox:	19%
>	Fox:		 6%
>	Others:		18%
>
[ stuff deleted ]

>dBASE shook the marketplace in '89 when dBASE IV 1.0 got bad
>press.  People assume that buying the market leader assures

Why don't you at least be honest when posting propaganda news like this to
the net ... dBASE didn't lose any market share because "it got bad press".
dBASE (1.0) was a buggy, shoddy product that was obviously rushed to market
too soon, and as a result of this, it received bad press.

>pounce.  I think people went to Borland desparate for stability.
>Borland delivers that, but I've heard Paradox called a "toy"
>for large applications.  If Ashton-Tate can convince the market
>that we are stable again (and it's all perceptions, anyway),

Perceptions? That's *all* it is?? And *what* causes these bad perceptions
anyway? People reading the (supposedly undeserving) bad press that you
have received? Why are you posting this bullshit to this newsgroup?
As for Paradox being a toy, I have developed Paradox applications which
consist of tens of thousands of lines of code, and I am very happy with
this product. It *is* stable, it *is* powerful and it *is* an excellent
value when considering price along with these other factors. Wish I could
say these things about your product. 

>|Disclaimer: I am speaking for myself, not as a spokesman for Ashton-Tate,

I find this really hard to swallow. Do you own A-T stock or something? If
you have something to say about your product, why don't you say it without
attacking competitor products? Let your product (good or bad) speak for
itself. The really funny thing here is that you are busting on a product
that is a much superior product to your own (in my opinion), and you come 
off looking like a real ass. Have you ever used Paradox?

Glenn