porten@eniac.seas.upenn.edu (Jeffrey Porten) (04/09/91)
I am involved with an organization that is in the process of developing
a database which we will distribute. The organization is non-profit, and
our plans are currently to not make any profits off of the distribution.
I need some information about getting licenses for this project. Our
current plans are to use one of the following three platforms: Hypercard,
Filemaker Pro, or 4th Dimension.
Hypercard has the advantage of being unlicensed, so there's no legal problem.
Plus, two of our committee members have experience with Hyperscript.
What it can't do is many dbase functions that would be useful; we will also
be working with a large and expanding amount of data (starting around 1 meg,
with quarterly or so additions), which we would like to sort and collate
easily.
Filemaker Pro can do this, but we would need Claris' permission to distribute
the dbase, since we would need to give out a copy of Pro to use the dbase.
I rpesume that they would require the user to pay for the copy they receive,
which would make our program $100 or more; we were hoping for an end cost
of $10 or less.
4th Dimension gets around this problem, I think. Am I correct in assuming
that stand-alone dbases from 4th are free of legal hassles? Are there
any restrictions? Problme with this is the cost of acquiring a copy (are
there non-profit or student rates?), and learning to program in their
language.
I do not normally monitor this group; please send replies in e-mail to
sjporte@asc.upenn.edu or porten@eniac.seas.upenn.edu.
--
Jeff Porten, Annenberg School for Communication, UPenn (sjporte@asc.upenn.edu)
Graduate Group in American Civilization, UPenn
(porten@eniac.seas.upenn.edu)mlbarrow@athena.mit.edu (Michael L Barrow) (04/09/91)
In article <40709@netnews.upenn.edu> porten@eniac.seas.upenn.edu (Jeffrey Porten) writes: I am involved with an organization that is in the process of developing a database which we will distribute. The organization is non-profit, and our plans are currently to not make any profits off of the distribution. I need some information about getting licenses for this project. Our current plans are to use one of the following three platforms: Hypercard, Filemaker Pro, or 4th Dimension. My personal suggestion is whatever you do: don't use HyperCard as a database package. Yes, it feels like one, but it just is not equipped to manipulate megs and megs of data. Maybe you could have some database XCMDS, etc that would maintain the data _outside_ of the stack. That way when the stack gets corrupted (I have seen this happen), your data doesn't go adios! I suggest you use FM Pro or 4D, depending on your database needs, especially since this will be a production database. Filemaker is simple and easy to use, but it _is_ simple. 4D is relational and much more powerful that FileMaker. In addition, it is a little more complicated. That's my $0.02!! - MLB -- ======================================================================= | Michael L Barrow | "If any of the above offended you, it was | | <mlbarrow@mit.edu> | my idea to do it -- not MIT's" | |---------------------------------------------------------------------| | Consultant | MIT Computing Support Services (CSS) | | Member | Student Information Processing Board (SIPB) | | Student | Computer Engineering Major, '93 | =======================================================================
Mike_Dustan@ucs.sfu.ca (Mike Dustan) (04/11/91)
In article <40709@netnews.upenn.edu> porten@eniac.seas.upenn.edu (Jeffrey Porten) writes: > I am involved with an organization that is in the process of developing > a database which we will distribute. The organization is non-profit, and > our plans are currently to not make any profits off of the distribution. > > I need some information about getting licenses for this project. Our > current plans are to use one of the following three platforms: Hypercard, > Filemaker Pro, or 4th Dimension. Another possibility might be FoxBASE+/Mac. You must buy the developer's version to build your applications and the runtime module which you may distribute to your users. The runtime module can be used as is to execute compiled FB programs, or it can be combined with your compiled code to make a complete, stand-alone application which you ship with your database. The only restrictions are that you can't give the finished product away (you must charge a fair price for your code) and you can't distribute the runtime module by itself. On the down side, the runtime module weighs in at about 700K. Add to that your views and report files and your application distribution takes pretty much an entire 800K floppy.
bmartin@uhccux.uhcc.Hawaii.Edu (Brian Martin) (04/15/91)
In article <40709@netnews.upenn.edu> porten@eniac.seas.upenn.edu (Jeffrey Porten) writes: > >I need some information about getting licenses for this project. Our >current plans are to use one of the following three platforms: Hypercard, >Filemaker Pro, or 4th Dimension. > >4th Dimension gets around this problem, I think. Am I correct in assuming >that stand-alone dbases from 4th are free of legal hassles? Are there >any restrictions? Problme with this is the cost of acquiring a copy (are >there non-profit or student rates?), and learning to program in their >language. 4th Dimension requires that the user own at least a 4D runtime module. They list for $125 each, and can be mail-ordered for as little as $50 each. I'm a 4D developer, and have found the runtime licensing issue to be a major drawback to developing commercial applications based on 4D. -- Best regards, Brian K. Martin, M.D. Honolulu, Hawai`i INTERNET: martin@medix.pegasus.com, bmartin@uhccux.uhcc.hawaii.edu ARPA: uhccux!bmartin@nosc.MIL UUCP: {uunet,dcdwest,ucbvax}!ucsd!nosc!uhccux!bmartin
alex@eniac.seas.upenn.edu (Edmund Davis) (04/26/91)
In article <12470@uhccux.uhcc.Hawaii.Edu> bmartin@uhccux.uhcc.Hawaii.Edu (Brian Martin) writes: >In article <40709@netnews.upenn.edu> porten@eniac.seas.upenn.edu (Jeffrey Porten) writes: >> >>I need some information about getting licenses for this project. Our >>current plans are to use one of the following three platforms: Hypercard, >>Filemaker Pro, or 4th Dimension. >> >>4th Dimension gets around this problem, I think. Am I correct in assuming >>that stand-alone dbases from 4th are free of legal hassles? Are there >>any restrictions? Problme with this is the cost of acquiring a copy (are >>there non-profit or student rates?), and learning to program in their >>language. > >4th Dimension requires that the user own at least a 4D runtime module. They >list for $125 each, and can be mail-ordered for as little as $50 each. I'm >a 4D developer, and have found the runtime licensing issue to be a major >drawback to developing commercial applications based on 4D. I would add, in addition, that 4D runtimes only allow those 4D database to run that _have_ runtime environments prepared. The User environment does not exist in a 4D runtime. Also, runtimes come with _NO_ documentation whatsoever, nor can it be bought separately. alex ---- Edmund A. Davis Internet: alex@eniac.seas.upenn.edu ACIUS Registered Developer Compuserve: 70471,3342 US Mail: 233-F So. Melville St. (215) 386-3305 Philadelphia, PA 19139