alexis@dasys1.UUCP (Alexis Rosen) (08/28/88)
Many interesting products were released at MacWorld two weeks ago, and more
were announced. I will try to get around to all the neat ones that others have
missed, but for now I will limit myself to databases. Since I have some pretty
strong opinions to go along with the facts, I will tell you up front that I
have hundreds (or thousands) of hours of professional work on each of FoxBase,
Helix, 4D, and Omnis. I have also done a lot of work with older versions of
FileMaker, OverVue, and 1stBase (seems like that was in the year 1884 :-)
The products I will cover are:
FoxBase+/Mac 1.1
Fourth Dimension 2.0
Oracle for the Mac
McMax
Omnis
Helix
FileMaker II
1st Team
FoxBase+/Mac V1.1:
First of all, most of you probably know that I am a strong admirer of
FoxBase. The new version does not disappoint. The screen generator is very
powerful and has the cleanest drawing environment of any database system I know
(I do not have much hands-on experience with the new FileMaker, though). In
particular, it is considerably more capable than 4D's Forms Generator. For
example, it has floating cursor marks in the rulers, like MacDraw. This
seemingly minor feature can halve the time it takes to produce detailed,
precise designs. The grid is entirely customizable, and can be turned off.
Multi-level Grouping also saves enormous amounts of time for more complex
forms. A superb PICT-mover is built into the graphics tool (it supports ICONs
and ICN#s, too). It resembles the Font/DA Mover, but it has some extra goodies.
The 'Nudge' feature is another nice timesaver missing in most (all?) of the
competition. Complete color support is built in (including 24-bit picts, if
you're so inclined). There are many other features which I don't have time to
go over. Buy the $5 demo if you're interested. It does everything the real copy
does, but is limited to 120 records per file.
In addition to the screen generator, FoxBase will include a template generator
(that technology is new to the Mac, and unique to FoxBase for now), a report
generator, and an applications generator. It will ship in mid-September (and I
believe that date- I've got a beta and it really works well). The Multi-user
version and a new runtime will also be released at the same time. The upgrade
to V1.1 is free to all users. The Runtime costs $300 for unlimited distribution
(no per-copy fees).
Overall, FoxBase creams the competition on virtually every front. There's
rarely any reason to get anything else.
Fourth Dimension V2.0:
My feelings about this product are very ambivalent. I just returned my copy
of V1.0. I think V1.0 is one of the worst examples of marketing hype in living
memory. Nevertheless, V2.0 looks quite impressive. It is what they should have
shipped a year ago. It is much faster than the previous version (not comparable
to FoxBase, however). It rectifies many of the big problems in V1.0, and it has
more automatic application-generation. The user (non-custom) environment
provides much more power than the current release, and the new quick report
generator is vastly more powerful than the current (pathetic) list generator.
There are still some major problems, though. The database structure is now
totally monolithic (everything is stored in one Macintosh file on the disk).
This is a major flaw common to 4D, Omnis, FileMaker, and Helix; FoxBase, McMax,
and dBase Mac feature the better distributed file structure. (For a discussion
of why this method is better, see my discussion of this in a separate article.)
Another very serious problem is the horrible code organization imposed upon
programmers by 4D. (This does not affect non-programmers.) The problem is much
worse in V2.0 due to the new feature of attaching code to individual screen
objects. 4D sorely needs a browser (like smalltalk) to conveniently manage
source code. This still wouldn't rectify the seriously flawed execution model
which imposes serious performance penalties in many cases, and requires some
truly torturous coding on occasion. I don't know if the interpreter goes any
faster than its current snail's crawl, but I expect it will.
The design environment now remembers the position and state of all open
windows and re-opens them when entering that mode. Unfortunately, we are still
saddled with 4D's horrible modal structure- You can't execute code and edit at
the same time. Contrast this with Fox's totally modeless operation, with
several code windows, a debugger, an expression-evaluator, and your application
all on-screen at the same time (if you want).
In general, version 2.0 should change 4D's rating from 'execrable' to 'very
good' - but it will still be behind FoxBase, unless they make some very
significant alterations in the next few months. I think this is vanishingly
unlikely.
Version 2.0 will be free to registered owners; it is due to ship at the end
of the year (one year late). I hope it will ship on time. I don't have much
faith in their claims, based on past performance, but on the other hand, it
looked very close. They will probably make their ship date.
Oracle:
Oracle was demonstrating their product at the show. It looks very slick, but
it's hard to judge a program I can't beat up on for at least three months.
Speed is totally unknown at this time. I expect it to be very good, compared to
the current generation of Mac DBs (again, not as fast as Fox). This will really
depend on whether or not they incorporate the code of their latest version into
the Mac product. Oracle is significant for a number of reasons:
1) SQL capability (pretty much obvious what this means)
2) HyperCard integration - By means of an XCMD, SQL can be executed from
within HyperCard. This may have enormous impact within the next year- it
opens up a whole new world of EIS ('Executive Information Systems')
capabilities. These are a class of applications that require much more work
than they should with current systems. The downside is that HyperCard is a
lousy development environment. (HC is great, yes, and I love it, but not
for development!)
3) C language interface with embedded SQL - This is the first major
product which allows you to call database routines from C. Shana sells
Inside-Out, and there are one or two B-Tree packages out there, but they
don't compare, and they're not SQL. This will be the way that some
programmers choose to go, instead of FoxBase or 4D. Probably not a great
idea in most cases, but...
4) SQL report & query tool - if you want to do it the old-fashioned (and
compatible) way.
5) *** Remote Database Access *** - In case you can't tell, I think this
is the most significant item in the list. Client/Server technology is the
wave of the future, and it can be an overwhelming consideration in network
situations.
Oracle will almost certainly have a large impact on the market, regardless
of how good the software really is. I am impressed, however, by the HyperCard
interface. Before I saw it I thought it was just a gimmick. It is, but that
doesn't detract from its enormous utility.
Oracle is priced at $199. The network-capable version will cost $999. It is
due for release late this year, I think, but I haven't heard any firm dates.
Nantucket's McMax:
Nantucket acquired this software, originally called dMac III, from the
German company Format Software. Then they sat on it for two years without
really doing much with it. If it weren't for FoxBase, it would currently be the
speed champion. However, FoxBase is faster and more powerful then McMax in
every way (it is a strict superset of McMax). So right now there's no reason
for anyone to buy it.
Nantucket is, however, working on a new version. Unfortunately, all of the
features in the new version already exist in FoxBase. There still won't be any
reason to buy McMax.
Actually, they have done one thing VERY well. The control over data entry is
implemented better in McMax than in any other program for the Mac. FoxBase can
do all the same things, but in a slightly less elegant way. Omnis has a very
similar model, but Omnis' implementation is painful. No other database,
especially 4D, can do these things as well. Still, this is not sufficient
justification to consider McMax.
If they keep working on this product long enough, they may have something
really nice. That's idle speculation for now, though. I doubt they can come to
the fore from so far behind.
The price for McMax is $295. I think the upgrade will be free, but I'm not
sure. I don't know when it will be available.
Blyth Software's Omnis 3+:
The most conspicuous no-show at the Expo, to me, was Blyth. They should have
been there with V3.3, but they weren't. As far as I'm concerned, this confirms
their total failure to stay competitive in the database market. A year ago,
they had the best product out there, but like Acius' 4D and Nantucket's McMax,
they have let a potentially great product slide. I give them about 12 to 18
months to go belly-up.
They claim that they will have 'the next generation' of DB software by early
next year, and claim that they will be showing it (under non-disclosure)
starting in mid-September. I don't even know if they'll ever ship it- they
can't even get out a minor upgrade within a year of the planned ship date, and
they expect to do a whole new product now?
Stay away. If they're still showing signs of life by mid-1989, it might be
worth looking at what they've got. Probably not.
Odesta's Helix:
Odesta continues to demonstrate some amazing multi-windowing and networked
data-service technology. Unfortunately, they also continue to fail to
understand the importance of speed and a programming language. Thus, Helix is
unbeatable for certain classes of applications, but fairly miserable for most
others. It's certainly worth looking into if you think you can get by without a
programming language, or you can use the Dec/Mac connectivity. Some new
enhancements are due soon, but I don't have any further information on this.
Jan Harrington is probably much more expert on this than I am.
Claris' Filemaker II (Nashoba's FM 4.0):
The big news about FileMaker is that it was just acquired by Claris and
renamed FileMaker II. Other than that, it hasn't changed. It's a wonderful
flat-file DB manager with some traces of 'relational' capabilities. I think
it's a safe bet to say that these capabilities will continue to grow in the
future. It is also the only shipping product besides Helix to offer
Client/Server technology and the benefits that go with it. It has some minor
flaws, and its idiot-proof indexing can yield some fairly large files, but all
in all it's a great program. If you don't need programming or a full relational
DB, this is the way to go.
1st Desk Systems' 1stTeam:
Very rarely are we gifted with such exquisite tragedy and such comic relief
at the same time. This is virtually the same product that caused the original
company to go out of business in early 1985!!! It is not even faintly
relational, despite claims to the contrary; the link to HyperCard is just the
standard HyperTalk commands that will launch any application; there is NO
SUPPORT FOR INDICES! The comedy is that they think they can sell this product.
It's not worth $7.95, and they want $795. Simply amazing. The tragedy is that
the poor guy who demo'd it for me actually though he had something good to
sell. I guess that's always a risk when medical-supply companies get into the
software business :-)
If anyone out there thinks they can describe even ONE good thing about this
program, please let me (and the net) know. I'm not holding my breath...
Don't waste your time even looking at this product. It's pathetic.
---
The way it looks to me, the companies with viable products 12 months from now
will be Fox, Acius, Odesta, Oracle, Claris, and probably some new people.
Ashton-Tate can't be written off either, although the current incarnation of
dBase Mac is showing all the signs of being this year's Jazz.
---
That's it for database news at the show. Does anyone have any experience with
MARS? It looks fascinating, but I have no real-life experience with it. What
about the new program from ProVue? What about 'DAtabase' or 'DBFast'? The new
database coming from Informix?
What about Mac II accelerators, SCSI accelerators, or QuickDraw accelerators?
Do the 25 MHz '20 boards for the SE run SCSI at SE speeds or can they keep up
with the Mac II? Any other information related to database systems and their
performance on tweaked hardware would also be appreciated.
Please note that this has been posted to both comp.sys.mac and comp.databases.
Please restrict your followups, if appropriate. I welcome additional comments
and serious disagreements, but flames to /dev/null.
----
Alexis Rosen {allegra,philabs,cmcl2}!phri\
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