Hi,

I'm looking for information about the database product PARADOX from
Corel. Does anybody know if Corel wants to develop this further or will
it die silently? You hardly can find any information about Paradox on
Corel's website (which is paradox to me).

The newest release of Paradox doesn't even have a number on it (is
bundled in WordPerfect Office X3 (Professional Edition only))

I inheritet an application where Paradox was used and I need to assess
the risk when I decide not to migrate to another solution.

Any help is really appreciated!!
Rene

rhug wrote:

Paradox is at end of life. It is distributed as Paradox 11 by Corel only as
part of the WordPerfect Office. It hasn't been enhanced since version 10.
Corel have said they will continue to sell it but won't be enhancing it. I
suspect they'll keep selling it until a future Windows release breaks it,
and if the cost to get it running on that new release is too high (say, more
than $100US <g>) they'll probably stop selling it.

I doubt you need to urgently jump ship, but I wouldn't put a whole lot of
investment in a system upgrade under Paradox, and I'd start looking at a
migration path.

The best source for Paradox support and information is probably
www.thedbcommunity.com

We have also established a broader set of public newsgroups, which are
freely available at news://pnews.thedbcommunity.com. One of the groups
specifically deals with alternatives: pnews.paradox-future.

No registration is required.


--
Larry DiGiovanni
Digico, Inc.
IT Consulting and Staffing Solutions
www.digicoinc.com
Check out www.thedbcommunity.com for Paradox resources.

--
Larry DiGiovanni
Digico, Inc.
IT Consulting and Staffing Solutions
www.digicoinc.com
Check out www.thedbcommunity.com for Paradox resources.
"rhug" <renehug (AT) hispeed (DOT) ch> wrote

Hi Larry,
Thanks for the quick reply. The information is really helpful!
Regards
Rene

"Larry DiGiovanni" <nospam (AT) nospam (DOT) com> wrote

Off the top of your head, what alternatives are there, other than Access,
for a small Windows-based office?

Rene,

There are two camps on this matter. While it is without question that Corel
has ended further development of Paradox (for now), Corel's decision hasn't
presented any adverse effects to existing Paradox applications or even those
presently under development. Test have shown us that Paradox will work
under Microsoft's new Vista operating system which gives Paradox developers
another 5 or more years to use Paradox as a viable developing platform under
Windows. Some early test have also shown that Paradox can work (with
limited success) on the Linux operating system under "WINE". It is
presumed by many that the WINE environment will improve and Paradox will
become even more usable under Linux.

Some Paradox developers have chosen to jump ship early while others intend
to keep plugging away. Several advanced Paradox developers who frequent the
news groups at "PNEWS", continue to add functionality and features to
Paradox via DLL's, etc. Much of these enhancements are free.... others are
sold as third party enhancements. These added features have provided
Paradox developers a path which keeps it relative with today's desktop
database application development requirements.

Unlike many other developing platforms that require additional enduser
licensing for distributing of your solutions, Paradox solutions can be
distributed via Paradox RunTime without any further contact or consideration
with Corel or Borland. So, as long as Paradox will work under Windows, you
should have no problem developing and distributing Paradox solutions. This
includes even in the extreme case that Corel or Borland closed shops
tomorrow.

Developing platforms which require additional enduser licensing for
distribution of your applications also require that the company who releases
those licensing is open for business and still agreeable to provide licenses
for your solution. That scenario may not always be true and presents a
situation which causes me more concern then Corel's decision to stop further
development of Paradox.

So, your question does not have a "clear" answer. It is one that you have
to make for yourself. I just wanted to make it clear to you that not ALL
Paradox developers are jumping ship to other platforms and on the contrary,
actually feel quit comfortable continuing projects (old and new) using the
Paradox developing platform.

--
....
`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸¸.·´¯`·-> rodney

Doug Kanter wrote:

I'd look at OpenOffice.org's Base product. It includes an embedded database
engine and is free from www.openoffice.org. It is an Open Source version of
Sun's StarOffice. I haven't looked at StarOffice, but it may be more mature
and ISTR it is quite cheap. Base itself is quite new but improving rapidly.

There's also AlphaFive (www.alphafive.com). Rick Kelly looked at this a
while back and there was a thread:

From: "Rick Kelly"
Newsgroups: pnews.paradox-future
Subject: Alpha 5 Initial Installation
Date: Fri, 11 Feb 2005 01:16:52 -0900

In the realm of Paradox there's not much else like it. You'd be looking at
a more generic environment, like .NET or one of the Java IDEs. Neither are
exactly small-office geared.


--
Larry DiGiovanni
Digico, Inc.
IT Consulting and Staffing Solutions
www.digicoinc.com
Check out www.thedbcommunity.com for Paradox resources.

Agreed. We're not going anywhere. We're getting tremendous results with
our Paradox application.

Doug Kanter wrote:
(1) If you are using Paradox for DOS applications, I would recommend
retiring those applications /immediately/ ... and I would consider Paradox
for Windows to continue to be a viable platform to shoot for.

(2) Conversion of anything is much more expensive than continuing with it;
basically, "conversion" means "rewrite."

(3) There are a lot of options for cross-platform and other application
development. I really don't think that either Microsoft or Corel are
paying as much attention to the desktop/small-office (SOHO) marketplace as
they should be.

(4) I remain optimistic that wiser heads will prevail at Corel and Borland.
There really is a huge opportunity represented in the Paradox for Windows
product. It could be made cross-platform. Its dependency upon BDE could
be severed. With a few million dollars' investment put into it, the
product could pay back that investment handsomely and make its producer
appear to be quite prescient in these "cross-platform, Unix/Linux is Here"
times.


----
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rhug wrote:
Well, since Borland (the owners of BDE) just announced their intention to
flush themselves down the toilet, Corel might have an opportunity to buy
the rest of BDE at a fire sale.

----
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