Alpha Software Mobile Development Tools:   Alpha Anywhere    |   Alpha TransForm subscribe to our YouTube Channel  Follow Us on LinkedIn  Follow Us on Twitter  Follow Us on Facebook
Devcon 2020 Goes Virtual! LEARN MORE >

Announcement

Collapse

The Alpha Software Forum Participation Guidelines

The Alpha Software Forum is a free forum created for Alpha Software Developer Community to ask for help, exchange ideas, and share solutions. Alpha Software strives to create an environment where all members of the community can feel safe to participate. In order to ensure the Alpha Software Forum is a place where all feel welcome, forum participants are expected to behave as follows:
  • Be professional in your conduct
  • Be kind to others
  • Be constructive when giving feedback
  • Be open to new ideas and suggestions
  • Stay on topic


Be sure all comments and threads you post are respectful. Posts that contain any of the following content will be considered a violation of your agreement as a member of the Alpha Software Forum Community and will be moderated:
  • Spam.
  • Vulgar language.
  • Quotes from private conversations without permission, including pricing and other sales related discussions.
  • Personal attacks, insults, or subtle put-downs.
  • Harassment, bullying, threatening, mocking, shaming, or deriding anyone.
  • Sexist, racist, homophobic, transphobic, ableist, or otherwise discriminatory jokes and language.
  • Sexually explicit or violent material, links, or language.
  • Pirated, hacked, or copyright-infringing material.
  • Encouraging of others to engage in the above behaviors.


If a thread or post is found to contain any of the content outlined above, a moderator may choose to take one of the following actions:
  • Remove the Post or Thread - the content is removed from the forum.
  • Place the User in Moderation - all posts and new threads must be approved by a moderator before they are posted.
  • Temporarily Ban the User - user is banned from forum for a period of time.
  • Permanently Ban the User - user is permanently banned from the forum.


Moderators may also rename posts and threads if they are too generic or do not property reflect the content.

Moderators may move threads if they have been posted in the incorrect forum.

Threads/Posts questioning specific moderator decisions or actions (such as "why was a user banned?") are not allowed and will be removed.

The owners of Alpha Software Corporation (Forum Owner) reserve the right to remove, edit, move, or close any thread for any reason; or ban any forum member without notice, reason, or explanation.

Community members are encouraged to click the "Report Post" icon in the lower left of a given post if they feel the post is in violation of the rules. This will alert the Moderators to take a look.

Alpha Software Corporation may amend the guidelines from time to time and may also vary the procedures it sets out where appropriate in a particular case. Your agreement to comply with the guidelines will be deemed agreement to any changes to it.



Bonus TIPS for Successful Posting

Try a Search First
It is highly recommended that a Search be done on your topic before posting, as many questions have been answered in prior posts. As with any search engine, the shorter the search term, the more "hits" will be returned, but the more specific the search term is, the greater the relevance of those "hits". Searching for "table" might well return every message on the board while "tablesum" would greatly restrict the number of messages returned.

When you do post
First, make sure you are posting your question in the correct forum. For example, if you post an issue regarding Desktop applications on the Mobile & Browser Applications board , not only will your question not be seen by the appropriate audience, it may also be removed or relocated.

The more detail you provide about your problem or question, the more likely someone is to understand your request and be able to help. A sample database with a minimum of records (and its support files, zipped together) will make it much easier to diagnose issues with your application. Screen shots of error messages are especially helpful.

When explaining how to reproduce your problem, please be as detailed as possible. Describe every step, click-by-click and keypress-by-keypress. Otherwise when others try to duplicate your problem, they may do something slightly different and end up with different results.

A note about attachments
You may only attach one file to each message. Attachment file size is limited to 2MB. If you need to include several files, you may do so by zipping them into a single archive.

If you forgot to attach your files to your post, please do NOT create a new thread. Instead, reply to your original message and attach the file there.

When attaching screen shots, it is best to attach an image file (.BMP, .JPG, .GIF, .PNG, etc.) or a zip file of several images, as opposed to a Word document containing the screen shots. Because Word documents are prone to viruses, many message board users will not open your Word file, therefore limiting their ability to help you.

Similarly, if you are uploading a zipped archive, you should simply create a .ZIP file and not a self-extracting .EXE as many users will not run your EXE file.
See more
See less

Marketing A5

Collapse
X
Collapse
 
  • Page of 1
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts
Previous template Next
    #1

    Marketing A5

    Just a thought on potential marketing of A5.

    Back in '89 or '90 is when I got into database work, I started with a product called Formworx to fill in & print forms for my business.

    Just when I got accustomed to that I found my PC, a Tandy from Radio Shack, came "PRE-LOADED" with something called Q&A. It was a dos database/wordprocessor from Symantec. As I tinkered I learned I liked it and began using it. It soon became a tool we used daily for a couple of years. A couple years later is when I found Alpha Four and have not looked back.

    The key word here being "PRE-LOADED". I would have never found Q&A had it not already been on the PC it owned because I was a PC novice. No let me reiterate, I was a NOVICE. Because it was already there is how I became familiar with that product...it was right there in front of me. Maybe A5 can be sold with new machines somehow. Or, maybe a "light" version of A5V5 can be installed on new machines to give users a "taste" of its' capabilities.

    What if a new user clicked on the A5 Icon on the new pc and a window popped-up displayed its' features...

    Try A5 NOW! Continue on with this installation and you can immediately begin using this easy to use database software because it's packed with simple, ready to use applications. Use it's contact manager. Use it's recipe tool, blah...blah..blah.

    Are you a power user? Check out these feature. (fill in the blanks)You will easily be able to accomplish the following ???, things that take programming in other database tools.

    Continue with installation??? Click here...

    Might be a simple way to get to people that don't know much about PC's and get them hooked on A5 and might also be a good way to tap into some of those MICROSOFT PRODUCTS ARE EVERYTHING people.

    Thanks,
    Mike
    Thank you,
    Mike Konoff
    Tags: None
    #2
    RE: Marketing A5

    I'm no expert, but I think it takes some major clout (meaning a large visible user base) to get the attention of PC manufacturers.
    Peter
    AlphaBase Solutions, LLC

     [email protected]
    https://www.alphabasesolutions.com

    Comment

      #3
      RE: Marketing A5

      Ya...you're probably right. Too bad clout simply can't be had for a products merits. We know A5 has much of that.

      Well anyway, just a thought. Nothing I'd like to see more than A5 and the people working on it achieve the success it deserves.
      Thank you,
      Mike Konoff

      Comment

        #4
        RE: Marketing A5

        I started with A4 when it was included on a magazine cover disk here in the UK. I doubt if I would have come across it otherwise, I was using Clipper at the time and was delighted to find something that would create a functioning application with very little coding. I have since purchased every upgrade to A4, converted to windows with A5V1 and now use A5V4.5.

        So, a cutdown version on a magazine might find more like me and is probably easier to do than a pre-install on a PC.

        Comment

          #5
          RE: Marketing A5

          Good idea Gren.

          I think I recall there being a free download someplace on zdnet.com, not sure.

          Gotta find a way to dangle that carrot in front of somebodies nose and have them be able to get it easily to try.

          As for me, once I finally found A4 and dabbled in it there was no going back to what I was using before that.

          Mike
          Thank you,
          Mike Konoff

          Comment

            #6
            RE: Marketing A5

            Years ago I read a saying attributed to the Japanese:

            "Market share first, profits later."

            Of course this approach does not always work...witness what happened to the "dot coms."

            But it can work and may be just the thing to elevate Alpha Software's profile in the market.

            Perhaps Alpha Five could issue an "Alpha Five Express" version of the program which could be offered to OEM's for inclusion with their systems. Of course, this would not be a full version of the program--certainly you would not include the ability to program in XBASIC. Perhaps other features could be disabled. The program could require registration and this information could be used to send the user an upgrade offer.

            Dell and Gateway might not be interested--they are so tied to Microsoft. However, smaller OEM's might do it. And in every city, there are folks who build and market clones. They are also a potential market.

            Alpha Five needs name recognition. This may be the way to get it. Sure beats spending millions on TV/Radio/Magazine ads.

            Comment

              #7
              RE: Marketing A5

              Hey John,

              The A5 Express is kinda what I had in mind, but you did a much nicer job of putting it into words.

              You're right...A5 needs more exposure. As it is with version 4.5 now it's a great product. Version 5, well, I don't know. I know little about it...but what I have heard sounds like it'll be a knockout.

              Mike
              Thank you,
              Mike Konoff

              Comment

                #8
                RE: Marketing A5

                Good idea! Here in the UK in recent years I've twice come across Alpha5 (v1 & v3) on cover disks. Sadly, though, it seems to be omitted in many database reviews in computing magazines.

                Where I work, many people use MS Excel as their "database," as Access is so difficult to use out-of-the-box (and often isn't included in their version of MS Office anyway). I suspect this is quite commonplace and means that many people have no real knowledge of what databases are for, or why they should use one instead of a spreadsheet.

                Chris Ohlsen (London, UK)

                Comment

                  #9
                  RE: Marketing A5

                  Hi Mike!

                  Mike Konoff wrote:
                  -------------------------------
                  I think I recall there being a free download someplace on zdnet.com, not sure.
                  -------------------------------

                  Alpha recently added a link to a free trial download to the Alpha homepage. The link leads to the following page:

                  http://www.alphasoftware.com/promo/trial/default.asp?REFCODE=ALPH

                  Cheers,
                  O.J.

                  Comment

                  Previous template Next
                  Working...
                  X