Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ames!elroy!hacgate!ashtate!dbase!awd
From: awd@dbase.UUCP (Alastair Dallas)
Newsgroups: comp.databases
Subject: Re: Free Text in a Database
Summary: dBASE on Unix
Message-ID: <3@dbase.UUCP>
Date: 26 Jan 89 20:21:52 GMT
References: <1509@murdu.OZ> <1@dbase.UUCP> <19496@agate.BERKELEY.EDU>
Organization: Ashton Tate Devlopment Center Glendale, Calif.
Lines: 42

In article <19496@agate.BERKELEY.EDU>, ked@garnet.berkeley.edu (Earl H. Kinmonth) writes:
> In article <1@dbase.UUCP> awd@dbase.UUCP (Alastair Dallas) writes:
> >
> >Not to be overtly commercial, but why not try dBASE IV?  It is known to
> 
> To be even less commercial, you might consider Bibliofile, my data base
> 
>	<stuff deleted>
>
> If you do decide to go with D-base(d)-IV, let me know how it runs under
> 4.3 BSD on a VAX 8800 or a Sun Work Station.
> 
> Earl H. Kinmonth
> History Department
> University of California, Davis
> Davis, California  95616

We're working on other ports, but I'm writing this on a Pyramid running
4.3 BSD and I can assure you that dBASE IV runs quite well in this environment.
I can also run dBASE IV on our Sun 386i native or in a DOS window.  This
doesn't help the original poster, because these ports are not available
to the public (yet).  But please don't assume that dBASE is a port from
CP/M, either.  We have five years of improvements on our original 
complete rewrite in C, and our code is more portable than a
lot of, shall we say, academic applications, in addition to being 
well optimized for a particular platform (i.e., MS-DOS).

The difference between shareware from Earl and dBASE IV is that dBASE
(and other commercial products) cost more, don't come with source code
and, unlike the free stuff, they attract slings and arrows.  But we're
committed to supporting, improving and porting our products into the
next century, whereas if Earl gets a better job offer in Sri Lanka tomorrow,
you're out of luck.

I hope this is received in the spirit in which it is intended--I have 
no intention of "selling" anyone on dBASE, and these opinions are
entirely my own.  (I have one supervisor who knows I have access to
usenet, and she tries not to think about my access to postnews,
because she knows I have a big mouth.)

/alastair/