Databases

[Jonathan Hutchins]

On Thursday 10 March 2005 07:25 am, Brian Kelsay wrote:

> dBASE is a cheap database, but this is the type of product that I can see
> disappearing soon due to lack of interest.  The even cheaper or free
> options will wipe them out.  

Considering that it's been around in one format or another since the early 
eighties, I doubt it.  Once a company has their custom POS/Inventory program 
in it, or their report analysis code, they tend to cling to it forever.

This is one of the things that drives Microsoft nuts with the need to backport 
new versions of windows so some big customer's database originally written in 
some DOS 2 application will still run.  

They'll pay for the hardware upgrades, they'll pay for the software upgrades, 
but they'll be damned if they'll put themselves in the hands of one of those 
wierd, overpaid, diva programmers again.  The CEO _still_ remembers that that 
stupid nerd drove a nicer car than he did, and he couldn't browbeat him if he 
wanted the project done.

FoxPro is much the same, there were some good apps written in it, and unless 
some altruistic above-average programmer comes along and converts them to 
Open Source, knowing he'll never see them agian, they will persist.