Hi,

The company I've been working for manages primary business data in an old -
yet very functional - custom Foxpro Dos app. I've done much modification to
the app, yet never worked with VFP or other database solutions.

My company is cutting my time back, and I want to dig in and learn current
data solution software, plus I can keep alive the option of expanding my
work with this company, by building a new application with current app
tools.

I know this is a Fox group, but wondered if there * objective * ( even
*subjective* I suppose ) opinions I can ask for re: digging into a future
platform.

I see/hear lots of reference to:
FileMaker ( Pro, Server, etc ) and mySQL ,

and...Fox ( as it has been for years ) never seems to be considered a
mainstream data solution. Don't get me wrong, I've always loved the power
of Foxpro, but it just doesn't seem to be to get it's due -( like Access,
SQL Server, Oracle, yadayda )

I need to learn the strengths/options/caveats for choosing a data
platform, and need direction in choosing amongst these platforms - so I
can dig in and retool. I d would welcome any plus/minus evals of them.

Thanks in advance

Mark

On Thu, 27 May 2004 12:06:03 -0700, "Mark L" <markl at aracnet.com>
wrote:

Just read the messages here and in other newsgroups that pretain to
your interests. Nobody is going to hand you the answers on a silver
platter. Regretfully, asking for a comparison between different
languages usually just starts a pissing contests about what is best.

It is better to ASK questions about SPECIFIC languages in their
appropriate newsgroups BEFORE trying to generalize, or else people
start saying "mine is bigger or better than yours".

Certainly not looking for a pissing contest,

Most posts are so VERY specific to a microsopic coding/formatting, issue
ie.- it wouldn't do me any good to ask how to do a String Translation
inside an Index Expression or how to do field level entry validation - and
compare the syntax.

I would hope members of the group with more experience could offer a view of
why they're coding in VFP- versus other software - because of a larger
understanding of software strengths and weaknesses, or opinions of
applicable environments / comparisons etc.

I'm not looking for anything on a silver platter, I'm researching by going
to newsgroups of experts in their field and asking for opinions.

Thanks
Mark

..

Mark,

I work in custom software business that uses a variety of tools for
software development. We primarily use Clarion for Windows
(www.softvelocity.com), VB and Access with a small portion being VFP v6.0

About 75% of our business is using Clarion for Windows because it does
not care what the database is. You can attached to many flavors of
databases plus SQL databases as wel.

Just my 2 cents worth

Julian Burke
julian (AT) revsoft-usa (DOT) com


Mark L wrote:

Sometimes "Best" doesn't count. Reality is few databases offer better job
security than Oracle. This hog is always specified by large corporations in
the "You can't go wrong if you buy IBM" mentality of management. I hated
using it when I worked at Boeing, but had no choice. I always did my work
in VFP and frequently created apps to get the work done while we waited for
Oracle developers to create an app. I read that Oracle is now targeting
smaller businesses. You should include it in your list. Tell your company
they can play the way the big boys play. Also your experience with Foxpro
will be handy as you can create a very user friendly VFP front end for
Oracle databases

"Mark L" <markl at aracnet.com> wrote