FilePro running on Unix vs Windows

[Mike Schwartz-PC Support & Services]

> My company, Floors, Inc. has asked me to research the possibility of us
> moving our system to a Windows based network platform. 

Hi Cindy!

	Bill Campbell already addressed the folly of running mission
critical database apps on a Windows computer, so I won't go into those
issues, except to say that I agree.

	From a performance standpoint, since Filepro does not run as a
server based application in a Windows environment, your applications will
simply die on a Windows Server network.

	Let me explain.  Suppose you have a 10,000 record master order
database and you need to scan all the records to find the orders from
Wisconsin.  On a Unix computer, the 10,000 records are examined in seconds
because they only have to be moved from the hard drive to the RAM memory to
be examined, and then only a few bytes of data has to be sent across your
network lines and to your workstation, so that you can see which records
were selected on your screen.

	However, on a Windows network, all 10,000 records in their entirety
have to be dragged across your network cables and into your own workstation
so that your workstation can examine all the fields in each order to
determine whether or not the order should be selected.  I've seen situations
where a couple of users doing scans for data can bring a 100 MBPS network
down to its knees.  

	In one example, a company had a bunch of night reports that took
about an hour to generate on a 386 Xenix computer.  A Windows geek convinced
the company that they should purchase the Windows version of filePro, so
that they could get rid of the Xenix computer.  They did the conversion,
but, even though this was a "new" Pentium computer (circa 1998) with lots of
ram and Windows NT 4.0 on it, the reports ran so slowly when executed from a
workstation that they weren't done on Monday morning!!!

	The reports eventually locked up the entire network by Tuesday, and
never did entirely finish.  After I came into the picture and switched them
back over to a Pentium SCO Unix box, the end-of-day reports ran in under 5
minutes.  (True Side note:  The Windows Geek headed to Las Vegas to become a
dealer after this blunder, and several other blunders involving their Novell
setup...) 

	I do have a few filePro Windows clients who successfully use filePro
on their small networks.  But they mostly have relatively small databases
that are of an individual nature, such as individual order entry databases.
The merging of the individual databases and running reports are never
executed from a workstation.  They have to walk over to the Windows Server
and run the reports and merges from the server console. 

	I couldn't envision running filePro on Windows under the scenario
you are suggesting. 

*** Mike Schwartz ***
*** PC Support & Services, Appleton, WI ***