Antiquated Software

[Jay R. Ashworth]

On Mon, Jan 16, 2006 at 01:35:34PM -0800, Anthony Terrible wrote:
> > 1. Yes we can go into another file by pressing one button.
>        Yes we can do that too but when you show another file from being 
> within one you have to use dummies and most of the time some if not all of 
> the information needed is not availible because you can only show 1 screen 
> of the other file which may need 3 to show everything. You can use system 
> calls to actually go to the other file so you can see all of the information 
> and we have done that also but the problem with that is your users will get 
> hung up in a loop and bring the whole system to it's knees.

Ok, I'm beginning to understand the problem here, Anthony.

1) You can launch an entire new child copy of dclerk out of the one
you're looking at, requiring no reprogramming at all.  Assuming you're
running on *nix.  I don't deal with Windows so I don't recall if it can
do that.

2) Whether you're on Unix or Windows, you can have either multiple user
sessions open (with multiple telnet windows) or multiple shells in the
same login (with screen(1l)), which relieves you of even the necessity
to rewrite any code at all.

> > 2. Yes, the managers can create a report on the fly - that is the beauty 
> > of filePro.
>   Hmmm, somehow I doubt this unless they are programmers and you have 
> development licensees for them and running from a command line.

You do need a development license, but there isn't any reason you
couldn't add dmoedef to whatever menus you have already.

> > 3. Yes they can run several reports at the same time.
>    Same as above.

Henh?

> > 4. Yes, they can review historical info going back 10 years - easy stuff 
> > for filepro.
>    Can they sort it or group it? Don't think so. Oh yea, if they run a 
> report which is at best, slow.

If it's slow, you don't have 1) enough indexes or 2) enough machine.

> > Without getting into how you set your screens up and the logic you use, 
> > filepro does all those things and doesn't take up much room on my hard 
> > drive.
>   Actually, I have converted all of my Filepro files to another modern data 
> base and they are smalleer then Filepro's

I'd be exceedingly surprised.

> Basicly you are free to have your own opinions and to use what ever program 
> or programs you wish. I am glad you have such good luck with Filepro and 
> hope it serves you well in the future. I personally beleive that Filepro's 
> time has ended based on the new technology and on what your customers and 
> venders are doing.

I actually agree with you.  But the arguments you're putting forth,
most of which are based not on filePro's *current* abilities but more
on your knowledge of and skills with it, and your choice of hardware,
do you little credit.

>                      But in the end, it's your call. But as many many 
> companies found out standing in the way of progress usually gets you run 
> over. There is just much more out there then Filepro has to offer. You have 
> a different opinion. Who knows, maybe the whole world is wrong and will 
> regress back to Filepro in the coming years.

No, I don't think that likely.

What *is* likely is that filePro, just like COBOL and RPG II, will live
on for some time to come, if only in a legacy role.  The labor to
completely redesign and reimplement a large system isn't anything close
to free and -- I've looked -- there *still* are few if any toolsets for
frontending SQL databases with filePro's bang for the buck ratio --
assuming, as someone else said, that it does what you need.

If it doesn't, then you've *always* had to pick another tool; it's
nothing new.

Cheers,
-- jra
-- 
Jay R. Ashworth                                                jra at baylink.com
Designer                          Baylink                             RFC 2100
Ashworth & Associates        The Things I Think                        '87 e24
St Petersburg FL USA      http://baylink.pitas.com             +1 727 647 1274

	A: No.
	Q: Should I include quotations after my message body?