Instead of MS Access

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Dawn M. Wolthuis - 27 May 2004 16:53 GMT

I have a need for a database and/or software development environment that

1) can be learned reasonably quickly by intelligent people with no prior
experience setting up databases or using programming languages
2) can be set up on a single Windows box
3) need not be multi-user (although preferable)
4) Allows for multiple tables/files, data entry into the tables, and
subsequent queries on data from more than one at a time (e.g. joins) without
direct specification of SQL statements.
5) need not scale for large numbers of tables, rows, columns

Access would fit the requirements (for what I need. Can you think of any
other database/software development environments for use in place of Access?
Thanks. --dawn

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Alan - 27 May 2004 21:02 GMT

Hi, Dawn

Lotus Approach will do exactly what you need. It is currently available only
as a part of Lotus Smart Suite, but that goes for around $168 IIRC. You can
get prior version stand-alone for less from various web sites, but it would
be unsupported by IBM/Lotus. That is no problem, as there are two excellent
free sources for help (not that you'll need it, but you never know):
www.xpertss.com and also a mailing list, though the same people hang out on
both.

It is easily multi-user. BTW, it can do much more than you need, so it is
ultimately scalable "just in case". It is very easy to learn.

Also, what version of Windows will it be running on? Some versions work
better on certain versions of Windows.

Alan

> I have a need for a database and/or software development environment that
>
[quoted text clipped - 10 lines]
> other database/software development environments for use in place of Access?
> Thanks. --dawn

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Bob Hairgrove - 28 May 2004 12:28 GMT

>I have a need for a database and/or software development environment that
>
[quoted text clipped - 10 lines]
>other database/software development environments for use in place of Access?
>Thanks. --dawn

Maybe SQLBase would fulfil your needs:

http://www.guptaworldwide.com

--
Bob Hairgrove
NoSpamPlease@Home.com

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Spider.D - 28 May 2004 21:56 GMT

Hi Dawn,

You have to count on Microsoft Visual FoxPro!

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Dawn M. Wolthuis - 29 May 2004 00:20 GMT

> Hi Dawn,
>
> You have to count on Microsoft Visual FoxPro!

That's my favorite so far. I might consider Revelation before FoxPro,
however. I'd really like to find an open source, spiffy, new (I don't need
it for building production apps anyway) product. I'd also prefer
non-SQL-based (even if SQL-accessible) but it needs a very intuitive UI,
which Approach and FoxPro have -- I don't know about SQLBase (which I'm
guessing is SQL-based ;-) but I have been impressed with Gupta products
before.

So, are there any open source Access replacements (not MySQL or PostreSQL)
that have an easy GUI for non-programmers, but smart end-users?

Thanks for the suggestions! --dawn

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Alan - 29 May 2004 01:25 GMT

Not that it's open source, but I forgot to mention Alpha 5. I would stay
away from FileMaker. Too hard to use.

I would rank Approach first, then Alpha 5, then FoxPro in terms of ease of
use.

> > Hi Dawn,
> >
[quoted text clipped - 12 lines]
>
> Thanks for the suggestions! --dawn

Reply to this Message

Dawn M. Wolthuis - 29 May 2004 03:12 GMT

> Not that it's open source, but I forgot to mention Alpha 5. I would stay
> away from FileMaker. Too hard to use.
>
> I would rank Approach first, then Alpha 5, then FoxPro in terms of ease of
> use.

OK, thanks. I have touched Alpha 5 and FoxPro and only seen Approach, so
I'll take a closer look.
--dawn

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Gene Wirchenko - 29 May 2004 02:15 GMT

>> Hi Dawn,
>>
>> You have to count on Microsoft Visual FoxPro!
>
>That's my favorite so far. I might consider Revelation before FoxPro,

I understand that a public beta of VFP 9 will be released in
June. I will be looking at it.

I use VFP (version 6 at this point) and like it, but I do not use
all of it, and I can not speak for how end-user-friendly it is.

[snip]

Sincerely,

Gene Wirchenko

Computerese Irregular Verb Conjugation:
I have preferences.
You have biases.
He/She has prejudices.

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