Let me first say that everyone who has responded to my questions has shown great patience and kindness, and has offered meaningful and correct information. Thank you.
Nonetheless, as someone who found A4v1 relatively easy to use and setup (as a novice), I fell right into the "....for non-programmers" pitch put forth about Alpha5. What a pile. So far, it appears to be just another waste of more money than I can afford to waste.
While I've only been working on a small business-related database for a few weeks, I feel a bit less dimwitted to have just read (in the forum) that I'm not the only one who has found the "pitch" overblown; that the program for non-programmers.....isn't.
I appreciate that some of you (acceptthis - post on 01-13-2006) may enjoy investing 12 years tweaking a work-related database, or spending hours and more money going to seminars. But, that shouldn't be what a program "....for non-programmers" should be about. Should it? How about simple solutions to simple, reasonably well-defined tasks?
If the program was for non-programmers, it shouldn't take endless visits to the forum to learn how to link tables to a form, or find out that you can't change the font in a memo field.
As for the Alpha "help" resources, and the much touted CHM file.......what a joke. Poorly written and poorly laid out. If you have to read a programmer's dictionary before you can ask a reasonably simple how-to question, that isn't "help".
I would imagine that most people don't want or need to create a database that can be used to run a government or determine the financial health of the world. All this dimwitted, disappointed, Alpha5-sucker wants to do is setup a simple 3-Table database and fill out some forms with the information contained in those tables. We've already paid to have someone setup such a database in Access, but, of course she is gone and nobody has a clue how she set it up. So the database "....for non-programmers" seemed to be a godsend. It turns out to be just another overblown promise.
Whatever happened to the PFS-Professional Series. Worked like a champ. Simple. Straightforward. Got the job done, and it didn't take 12 years to do it!
I apologize for the cynicism, but I've been struggling with this lousy program waaaay to long for what I need it to do, and I am no nearer to getting any meaningful data out of it then when I started.
Can anybody use a single-license copy of A5v6. Cost me $200. Make an offer! I'd give it to a friend. But I like my friends too much.
Steven
Nonetheless, as someone who found A4v1 relatively easy to use and setup (as a novice), I fell right into the "....for non-programmers" pitch put forth about Alpha5. What a pile. So far, it appears to be just another waste of more money than I can afford to waste.
While I've only been working on a small business-related database for a few weeks, I feel a bit less dimwitted to have just read (in the forum) that I'm not the only one who has found the "pitch" overblown; that the program for non-programmers.....isn't.
I appreciate that some of you (acceptthis - post on 01-13-2006) may enjoy investing 12 years tweaking a work-related database, or spending hours and more money going to seminars. But, that shouldn't be what a program "....for non-programmers" should be about. Should it? How about simple solutions to simple, reasonably well-defined tasks?
If the program was for non-programmers, it shouldn't take endless visits to the forum to learn how to link tables to a form, or find out that you can't change the font in a memo field.
As for the Alpha "help" resources, and the much touted CHM file.......what a joke. Poorly written and poorly laid out. If you have to read a programmer's dictionary before you can ask a reasonably simple how-to question, that isn't "help".
I would imagine that most people don't want or need to create a database that can be used to run a government or determine the financial health of the world. All this dimwitted, disappointed, Alpha5-sucker wants to do is setup a simple 3-Table database and fill out some forms with the information contained in those tables. We've already paid to have someone setup such a database in Access, but, of course she is gone and nobody has a clue how she set it up. So the database "....for non-programmers" seemed to be a godsend. It turns out to be just another overblown promise.
Whatever happened to the PFS-Professional Series. Worked like a champ. Simple. Straightforward. Got the job done, and it didn't take 12 years to do it!
I apologize for the cynicism, but I've been struggling with this lousy program waaaay to long for what I need it to do, and I am no nearer to getting any meaningful data out of it then when I started.
Can anybody use a single-license copy of A5v6. Cost me $200. Make an offer! I'd give it to a friend. But I like my friends too much.
Steven
Comment