awd@dbase.A-T.COM (Alastair Dallas) (04/24/91)
Judge Hatter reversed himself yesterday and ruled that Ashton-Tate's copyright on dBASE is not invalid and that our suit against Fox can therefore continue. Our CEO, Bill Lyons (the guy who took over from the guy who brought you dBASE IV 1.0 before its time and who sued Fox in the first place) is quoted in the Wall Street Journal to the effect that we should now settle with Fox and get on with competing in the marketplace, not the courts. In the particular mudville which Ashton-Tate occupies, there is joy. Hope no one minds me using a little of the bandwidth to share it. /alastair/ -- |Disclaimer: I am speaking for myself, not as a spokesman for Ashton-Tate, |which does not monitor my outbursts here. I reserve all rights to my |opinions in terms of commercial endorsements.
pew@cs.brown.edu (Peter E. Wagner) (04/26/91)
In article <1991Apr24.160831.9828@dbase.A-T.COM>, awd@dbase.A-T.COM (Alastair Dallas) writes: |> Judge Hatter reversed himself yesterday and ruled that Ashton-Tate's |> copyright on dBASE is not invalid and that our suit against Fox can |> therefore continue. Our CEO, Bill Lyons (the guy who took over from |> the guy who brought you dBASE IV 1.0 before its time and who sued |> Fox in the first place) is quoted in the Wall Street Journal to |> the effect that we should now settle with Fox and get on with competing |> in the marketplace, not the courts. |> |> In the particular mudville which Ashton-Tate occupies, there is joy. |> Hope no one minds me using a little of the bandwidth to share it. |> |> /alastair/ Well, if you're going to gloat, I'll shoot back. It would be nice if you guys just admitted that Fox's software is FAR superior to yours, stopped marketing dBase, and endorsed Fox Software as the new standard in the industry. Granted, it would cost you guys a little money, but it would make the world of database development a better place :). Peter -- ---------------------------------------------------------------- Peter E. Wagner (401)863-7685 pew@cs.brown.edu Department Computer Science Box 1910 pew@BROWNCS.BITNET Brown University, Providence, RI 02912 uunet!brunix!pew Woody Allen when asked if he thought sex was dirty; `If you do it right.' ----------------------------------------------------------------
ronin@ronin.sbi.com (Barry Wright) (04/26/91)
In article <1991Apr24.160831.9828@dbase.A-T.COM> awd@dbase.A-T.COM (Alastair Dallas) writes: > Our CEO, Bill Lyons (the guy who took over from >the guy who brought you dBASE IV 1.0 before its time and who sued >Fox in the first place) is quoted in the Wall Street Journal to >the effect that we should now settle with Fox and get on with competing >in the marketplace, not the courts. What a refreshing change of business styles! Good luck on the "competing in the marketplace" part. You'll need it. B.Wright ronin@ronin.sbi.com
mdb@abcom.ATT.COM (3030 ) (04/26/91)
From article <73539@brunix.UUCP>, by pew@cs.brown.edu (Peter E. Wagner): > In article <1991Apr24.160831.9828@dbase.A-T.COM>, awd@dbase.A-T.COM (Alastair Dallas) writes: > |> Judge Hatter reversed himself yesterday and ruled that Ashton-Tate's > |> copyright on dBASE is not invalid and that our suit against Fox can > > It would be nice if you guys just admitted that Fox's software is FAR > superior to yours, stopped marketing dBase, and endorsed Fox Software I agree with Peter. A-T much like IBM has for years over charged for a product that was weak and slow. When the competion started to heat up A-T ran to the judicial system instead of the development labs. When the leading mebers of the Xbase community tried to set standards A-T refused to sit on the committe even though they were asked several times to participate. Consultants whom helped build them into the company we know today were sued if part of their advertising included Dbase compatibility. A-T used to have a good product but like many in our industry, they sat back and counted the money instead of paying attention to the market. Mike Barnes Voice (415-224-3030)
alan@ahmcs.uucp (Alan Mintz) (04/27/91)
In article <1991Apr24.160831.9828@dbase.A-T.COM>, awd@dbase.A-T.COM (Alastair Dallas) writes: > Judge Hatter reversed himself yesterday and ruled that Ashton-Tate's > copyright on dBASE is not invalid and that our suit against Fox can > therefore continue. Our CEO, Bill Lyons (the guy who took over from > the guy who brought you dBASE IV 1.0 before its time and who sued > Fox in the first place) is quoted in the Wall Street Journal to > the effect that we should now settle with Fox and get on with competing > in the marketplace, not the courts. Now I could be wrong, but I doubt you'll find many people willing to cheer with you... I find myself in a position of HAVING to convert a Fox application to dBase IV because it needs to run on VMS. Thank <insert deity here> for Step IVward, which takes care of the change in array syntax (when was the last time you saw a high-level langauge compiler or interpreter change a primary syntax rule ?). It sure is a pain to try and come up with substitutes for things that just aren't in dBase IV like filtered indices, ALL those SYS functions (only some of which have similar equivalents), etc. I have little sympathy for a company that deliberately releases a product that doesn't have features that competing products have had for years. This suit, from the beginning, seems like nothing but sour grapes. -- < Alan H. Mintz | alan@mq.com | ...!uunet!ahmcs!alan >
evan@plxsun.uucp (Evan Bigall) (04/30/91)
In article <1991Apr24.160831.9828@dbase.A-T.COM> awd@dbase.A-T.COM (Alastair Dallas) writes:
In the particular mudville which Ashton-Tate occupies, there is joy.
And over the rest of the world developers are crying...
/Evan
--
Evan Bigall, Plexus Software, Santa Clara CA (408)982-4840
...!sun!plx!evan or evan%plx@sun.com
"I barely have the authority to speak for myself, certainly not anybody else"dave@kharma (05/17/91)
dscavo@ncratl.AtlantaGA.NCR.COM (David Scavo) writes: > In <182@ahmcs.uucp> alan@ahmcs.uucp (Alan Mintz) writes: > > >I find myself in a position of HAVING to convert a Fox application to > >dBase IV because it needs to run on VMS. Thank <insert deity here> for > > >It sure is a pain to try and come up with substitutes for things that just > >aren't in dBase IV like filtered indices, ALL those SYS functions (only some > ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ > I for one am no big AT supporter, but I do believe that DBase IV 1.1 does > have filtered indices with the use of the FOR keyword in the INDEX statement. > Maybe this will save you some work. :) > Cheers. > -- You are absolutely right. The FOR keyword in the MDX in DB IV is one of the newer features that really make things nice, but the number & variety of possible solutions you can devise are limited only by the users imagination. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - isc-br!tau-ceti!dogear!kharma!dave [dave@kharma] Dave Laird, SysOp: kharma The Computer Concern, Springdale, WA 258-7109 or 1-800-786-7109 kharma: 509-233-8474 (Local from Spokane Area) 24hrs 1200-14400 (HST)