fr@icdi10.UUCP (Fred Rump from home) (05/27/90)
In article <15198@s.ms.uky.edu> ericd@ms.uky.edu (Eric B. Durbin) writes: >We're currently looking for a good database manager to develop a >state wide cancer registry. The registry software needs to be >portable between multiple operating systems, UNIX, MS-DOS, and VMS in >particular. The real beauty of db_vista is the source. If you know C, the world is at your fingertips regardless of the hardware of the moment. As a developer using vista we are a very satisfied customer. >Perusing the manuals, it appears to be a very solid >and flexible database manager. The product was voted the "most" flexible in a recent PC Week review. The only real problem is the lack of front end tools. There are few people in the market who are interested in producing anything for a royalty free product. >Has anyone had any experience with db_Vista III, or any other RAIMA >product? Specific questions can be e-mailed to me. Otherwise there is little to say. >Has anyone had any experience with any other network database model >products (such as MDBS IV)? We've not used MDBS IV, but are a longtime user of MDBS III. It is because we have worked both with MDBS and Vista that has given us a lot of experience in the network database world. On the other hand, our involvement with relational stuff is rather limited. fred -- Fred Rump "Do not meddle in the affairs of cats, for they are subtle and will 26 Warren St. piss on your computer." domain: fr@icdi10.compu.com Beverly, NJ. 08010 uucp: ...{bpa dsinc uunet}!cdin-1!icdi10!fr 609-386-6846 "Freude... Alle Menschen werden Brueder..." - The Ode
fr@icdi10.UUCP (Fred Rump from home) (05/27/90)
In article <584@fizban.tessi.UUCP> steve@tessi.UUCP (Steve Willoughby) writes: >In article <15198@s.ms.uky.edu> ericd@ms.uky.edu (Eric B. Durbin) writes: >>Has anyone had any experience with db_Vista III, or any other RAIMA >>product? > >I'm currently using another Raima database product, db_FILE, which is >basically just a scaled-down version of db_Vista III (fewer library > >For the price, though, I'd probably stick to db_Vista. They'll even >sell you the source code if you need it (db_FILE, for a single-user >version on PC's is only about $250-295 or so and comes with sources by >default). db_Vista comes in three modules with source. a) the mail database system b) the db_revise modules for database modification after the fact, c) db_query for ad hoc inquiry and creating views as per relational specs for reports and file/screen displays. They sell for roughly $2600 each for the Unix world. All together a discount is available of about 10%. Continous support is available as well as systems development under contract. The product is used by many national organizations underneath their inhouse products. People like MAACO use it in every one of the auto painting shops, for example. Generally speaking, the no royalty clause is the big winner even so I don't quite understand how the company can afford to advertise in so many national magazines when they don't get more recurring income. But I guess they still sell enough whole packages to be able to stay in business. In any case, one has the source as security: that's nice. >BTW, I'm not directly related to MDBS or RAIMA, except as a satisfied >customer. These opinions are my own, and may not necessarily be those Same here. fred -- Fred Rump "Do not meddle in the affairs of cats, for they are subtle and will 26 Warren St. piss on your computer." domain: fr@icdi10.compu.com Beverly, NJ. 08010 uucp: ...{bpa dsinc uunet}!cdin-1!icdi10!fr 609-386-6846 "Freude... Alle Menschen werden Brueder..." - The Ode
fred@cdin-1.UUCP (Fred Rump) (05/29/90)
In article <1990May25.152612.322@Neon.Stanford.EDU> dkeisen@Gang-of-Four.Stanford.EDU (Dave Eisen) writes: >In article <584@fizban.tessi.UUCP> steve@tessi.UUCP (Steve Willoughby) writes: >>In article <15198@s.ms.uky.edu> ericd@ms.uky.edu (Eric B. Durbin) writes: >>>[...] we're also looking >>>at db_Vista III by RAIMA Corporation. db_Vista is a C database library > >And >my one experience with their tech support was in telling them about a bug in >another of their products (db_QUERY) that could be reproduced in three lines of >code, and getting a phone call from them back two weeks later saying that yes, >it was a bug -- no fix, no workaround, nothing. All of us know that there is no code without bugs. The beauty of this software is that one can obtain the source rather inexpensively and fix, alter or otherwise improve whatever 'bugs' you. It is a great plus for this vendor. I'm not sure if you have their support agreement to have problems resolved in a timely fashion. We don't. We have been waiting for fixes from the rest of the world far too long to continue in that mode. We'd rather fix them ourselves and be done with it. >Yes. This is very useful for development. But it is too complicated >for any of our users to use themselves. If you had the source you could build whatever interface your users can use. It is designed to be a part of an application environment. You'd set everything up for your users to ask simple questions. You also have the choice of using IQ (Intelligent Query) which would interface directly with the db_Vista database dictionery. So far we've not finished testing IQ but I can report back later if anyone is interested. fred -- Fred Rump | UUCP: {uunet dsinc}!cdin-1!fred CompuData, Inc. | "Beware of cats for they are subtle and will .... on 10501 Drummond Rd. | your computer." Philadelphia, Pa. 19154| Internet: fred@COMPU.COM (215-824-3000)