Data Driver

Blog archive

Retro Database dBASE Making a Comeback?

Ok, that report is due soon, so I'm going to fire up dBASE to run some reports, export the data into Lotus 1-2-3 and summarize everything with WordPerfect--while listening to Wham! and Foreigner, of course.

Oops, my mind was momentarily transported back into the mid '80s.

Amazingly, though, one of those pioneering software products was just updated as of yesterday. Yup, dust off those old .dbf files, dBASE PLUS 8 has been released.

And, while the original Ashton-Tate version was developed for the CP/M operating system (remember those dual 5-1/4 in. floppies--one for the program, one for the data?), this new one runs on Windows 8 (yes, even the 64-bit version). My, how times have changed.

WordPerfect, of course, is still around under the stewardship of Corel Corp., but I hadn't heard anything about dBASE for quite a while. The new dBASE guardian, dBase LLC, claims it's still in use by "millions of software developers." The company was formed last year with the help of some people who formerly worked at dataBased Intelligence Inc., "the legal heir" to dBASE.

I'm not sure exactly what happened to dBASE after the astounding success of dBASE III, but, according to Wikipedia, the decline started with "the disastrous introduction of dBase IV, whose stability was so poor many users were forced to try other solutions. This was coincident with an industry-wide switch to SQL in the client-server market, and the rapid introduction of Microsoft Windows in the business market."

Anyway, the new version includes ADO support, a new UI and "enhanced developer features with support for callbacks and the ability to perform high precision math."

Pricing is $399 for the regular edition, $299 for an upgrade and $199 for a personal edition without ADO support. I wonder what those prices equate to in 1985 dollars?

UPDATE: Here's a pretty good history of dBASE by Jean-Pierre Martel, editor of The dBASE Developers Bulletin.

Any old-timers out there with a good memory? What did dBASE III sell for? And why did some of these pioneering products die or fade into obscurity, while others continue to thrive? Comment here or drop me a line.

Posted by David Ramel on 03/20/2013


comments powered by Disqus

Featured

  • Mastering Blazor Authentication and Authorization

    At the Visual Studio Live! @ Microsoft HQ developer conference set for August, Rockford Lhotka will explain the ins and outs of authentication across Blazor Server, WebAssembly, and .NET MAUI Hybrid apps, and show how to use identity and claims to customize application behavior through fine-grained authorization.

  • Linear Support Vector Regression from Scratch Using C# with Evolutionary Training

    Dr. James McCaffrey from Microsoft Research presents a complete end-to-end demonstration of the linear support vector regression (linear SVR) technique, where the goal is to predict a single numeric value. A linear SVR model uses an unusual error/loss function and cannot be trained using standard simple techniques, and so evolutionary optimization training is used.

  • Low-Code Report Says AI Will Enhance, Not Replace DIY Dev Tools

    Along with replacing software developers and possibly killing humanity, advanced AI is seen by many as a death knell for the do-it-yourself, low-code/no-code tooling industry, but a new report belies that notion.

  • Vibe Coding with Latest Visual Studio Preview

    Microsoft's latest Visual Studio preview facilitates "vibe coding," where developers mainly use GitHub Copilot AI to do all the programming in accordance with spoken or typed instructions.

  • Steve Sanderson Previews AI App Dev: Small Models, Agents and a Blazor Voice Assistant

    Blazor creator Steve Sanderson presented a keynote at the recent NDC London 2025 conference where he previewed the future of .NET application development with smaller AI models and autonomous agents, along with showcasing a new Blazor voice assistant project demonstrating cutting-edge functionality.

Subscribe on YouTube