Antiquated Software

[Bill Campbell]

On Sun, Jan 15, 2006, Stanley Barnett wrote:
>
>   I tried to stay out of this fight...  But I cannot hold back any
>   longer...  A lot of folks in the filepro world has chosen to die with
>   filepro instead of embracing and learning new technologies...
>
>   I'm saying this because a lot of the windows and gui comments I'm
>   reading here are not true and are dished out to the list readers by
>   folks that are not knowledgeable in both worlds as developers.  I'm
>   speaking out now because I for one have developed using filepro and
>   sco xenix/unix since 1983 when it was tandy xenix and profile, and
>   since 1998 in X-base languages, and I do know how to do the task in
>   either language, providing it can be done in said language.  I even
>   done a $10k project in 2005, and I'm still using it, but in my spare
>   time, I'm re-writing our accounting package in x-base... I'd like a
>   chance to clear some of these myths/un-truths up, and I'm willing to
>   try at the expense of having my head chopped off.  So here goes...

I first used Profile II on Radio Shack Model IIs in 1980, Profile 16 on
Xenix starting in 1982 or so, and did major FP development until about 1985
when I ran into a wall with too many open files, switching to the Unify
RDBMS with lots of C code writing accounting applications for large retail
and wholesale distribution.  Unify provided many things that I considered
essential including referential integrity, an SQL interface, and a
programming interface that lent itself to things like source code control
and other standard software engineering practices.

I am currently in the process of porting those accounting applications to
use a postgresql back end, python as the primary language with a curses
based interface.  There will also be web interface available for many
things.  The database doesn't restrict me to a single user interface, and
is easily accessible with many common languages including C, python, perl,
php, and is easy to integrate using Zope and Plone for web access.

FilePro has proven over the years to be a viable platform for development
of very useful business systems, and people like John Esak, the Brody's
etc. have done things with it that are beyond anything that I would attempt
using it.

It's been years since I looked at x-base.  Isn't that the successor to
dBaseII, a file based system, not a true database with ACID compliance?  If
that is the case, I can see using it to develope on-line transaction
processing systems.

>
>   1.  I actively programmed in filepro/sco from 1983 thru 1998, and was
>   forced to add new technologies to my skillset for my own needs and my
>   customers.  When Win95 and Excel came out, I could see Windows winning
>   the GUI/Text war, as it has all the bells and whistles that people
>   wanted.  I still today support both our own and customers filepro
>   applications.

I've never supported Windows, and seriously think that anybody who entrusts
corporate assets and data to a Windows systems is guilty of malfeasance,
and I refuse to be an accomplice to that.  Even if Windows were secure, and
no data were ever lost to software crashes or random reboots, the employee
time lost due to these crashes and reboots, when reliable alternatives are
available, isn't something that should be tolerated by anybody who is
responsible for an organization's bottom line.

Bill
--
INTERNET:   bill at Celestial.COM  Bill Campbell; Celestial Software LLC
URL: http://www.celestial.com/  PO Box 820; 6641 E. Mercer Way
FAX:            (206) 232-9186  Mercer Island, WA 98040-0820; (206) 236-1676

More laws, less justice.  -- Marcus Tulius Ciceroca (42 BD)