Path: utzoo!attcan!telly!evan
From: evan@telly.UUCP (Evan Leibovitch)
Newsgroups: comp.databases
Subject: Re: FoxBase
Message-ID: <477@telly.UUCP>
Date: 19 Jan 89 02:29:37 GMT
References: <5187@lynx.UUCP>
Distribution: na
Organization: System telly, Brampton, Ontario
Lines: 30

In article <5187@lynx.UUCP> vik@lynx.UUCP (Vikram Sohal) writes:
>
>Anybody out there know how the FoxBase multi-user database for Microport
>system V compares to the likes of Informix and Oracle?

Watch out. The ONLY multi-user versions of FoxBase+ I know of are available
for the NCR Tower and SCO Xenix ONLY. I am quite positive that
SCO FoxBase will *NOT* run on Microport 286, and will not run on Unix V/386
editions earlier than release 3.2. In other words, it's available as XENIX
binaries only, and unless you have a Microport (or anyone else's) Unix
which runs XENIX binaries (R3.2), you're out of luck.

Assuming you're still interested, FoxBase is essentially the same as dBASE III+
with additional hooks for multi-user hooks, Unix printer support, termcap, etc.
It's a substantially different product from an SQL DBMS like Informix, in that
on-the-fly queries aren't as easy to do (or write), and that FoxBase/dBASE
is essentially a programming LANGUAGE. FoxBase works more like Informix 4GL
than like the SQL-alone product.

One BIG disadvantage of FoxBase I have come across is that I haven't yet been
able to get it to run backround tasks (ie, overnight report generation using
cron). It appears to die quickly unless it has control of your screen - my
guess, they're probably too dependent on curses and haven't provided for
programs which can run without screen display.

Hope this helps.
________
Evan Leibovitch, SA of System Telly                   "I am most concerned that
Located in beautiful Brampton, Ontario, Canada          nobody will remember me
evan@telly.on.ca -or- uunet!attcan!telly!evan            when I am dead" - Anon.