Path: utzoo!utgpu!utstat!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!csd4.milw.wisc.edu!bbn!rochester!pt.cs.cmu.edu!andrew.cmu.edu!rl1b+ From: rl1b+@andrew.cmu.edu (Robert A. Locke) Newsgroups: comp.databases Subject: Re: availability of dBase IV Message-ID: Date: 1 Feb 89 21:37:43 GMT References: <1509@murdu.OZ> <1@dbase.UUCP> <488@telly.UUCP> <373@uncmed.med.unc.edu>, <7@dbase.UUCP> Organization: Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA Lines: 56 In-Reply-To: <7@dbase.UUCP> OK, Alastair, you wanted something concrete, so here's a sermon. Actually, the complaints I have with Ashton-Tate are mostly with the management and not with the product. I stopped using A-Ts dBASE when they a) decided they wanted to charge me for support; b) decided to charge me my right arm for the developers version of dBASE IV; c) have taken FOREVER to release the developers version; d) forced all my clients to buy copies of dBASE. So, I started using Quicksilver. Don't ask me why I chose it over Clipper or FoxBase. Maybe because they promised MS-DOS support and I have clients with non-IBM compatible DOS machines. Maybe because at the time, they had just passed Clipper in speed being in between releases on Clipper. Maybe because it was the only one with dBASE compatible index files. But now, as with all companies that begin to get too big for their own good, they are beginning to forget the people that gave them a market, just like A-T did. But this sermon is on A-T.... Yes, A-T makes it's money with the big clients who can afford all these whizzy-bang huge prices and don't think twice about them. But what about the thousands of little clients that introduce people to dBASE. I love working in the dBASE language. It's gotten to the point where I can do things faster in dBASE than any other language I know. So why do I feel like I'm getting screwed by them? I'm a full-time undergraduate student with a part-time consulting business on the side that can't really keep it's head above water. I do the consulting because it's fun. I like seeing the smiles on people's faces when they see what the computer can truly do for them. But with companies releasing buggy software and charging high prices for "bug fixes," that's just ludricous. I can't afford it. I suppose I could come up with $1,000 for a one time deal on a developer's release provided my clients never had to buy dBASE unless they wanted to do more than I am willing to. And as long as my code was protected. And as long as I could get REAL telephone support. I mean, look at WordPerfect. What is their secret? Is A-T just trying to grab money for support? It just seems that every time I turn around, they have their hands in my pocket again.... Well, that's my sermon for the day. Sorry to depress y'all. --Rob Locke ------- Arpanet: rl1b+@andrew.cmu.edu RALII@Drycas.Club.CC.CMU.EDU Bitnet : RALII@DRYCAS Fidonet: Rob Locke (1:129/15) USNail : 5419 Normlee Place Pittsburgh, PA 15217 USA