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Bonus TIPS for Successful Posting

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Replacement for Alpha 4?

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    Replacement for Alpha 4?

    I started using Alpha 4 with V2 and kept using it till V7, when the dominance of the Windows environment gradually pushed it into the background (though I still use it).

    Alpha 4 began life aimed at the personal/small company user who wanted a powerful query capability, but an otherwise simple interface. Alpha 5 is a different beast, developer oriented.

    What might replace Alpha 4? Neither PC-based CRMs or on line ones (Salesforce) echo positively with me. Their sales-orientation is overwhelming. They have unnecessarily complex visual interfaces, and often poor performance on queries.

    Any suggestions from the community?

    #2
    Re: Replacement for Alpha 4?

    Hi Mathew,

    You can still roll your own dos app if you want, but the complexities are enormous and not in alpha. It will take you a year to get to where you got in a month with alpha.

    My suggestion - go to windows - alpha is real easy if you use the genies.

    .
    Dave Mason
    [email protected]
    Skype is dave.mason46

    Comment


      #3
      Re: Replacement for Alpha 4?

      I'm not interested in staying in Dos.

      I took a look at Alpha5 and I found it to be too complex, too Access-like. It freaked out my staff too, they couldn't figure it out.

      As I said in my original post, Alpha 4 began life with a powerful query capability, but an otherwise simple interface.
      Alpha 5 is a different beast, developer oriented. I want something like the original Alpha 4 - something which simply lets me define fields entirely freely (without pre-populating them with sales-oriented categories), lets me put data in them, and query the data.

      Alpha 5 has drifted away from that simplicity, because it is aimed at app developers. Fine, but I'm not an app developer.

      I just want to define fields, put data in them, and query the data, without changing the basic interface.

      Comment


        #4
        Re: Replacement for Alpha 4?

        Mathew,

        Your current data tables will work with a5. A simple interface -form - browse is easy. Query is a bit harder, but easier than a was when you began. Reprts are much easier and very much more capable. Printing is typically a breeze.

        First look at a5 ver1 scared me too. I played with it because I was sure dos was doomed. I got a little more comfortable and made a small app and grew to love it.

        You can do everything you want with almost NO coding.

        Remamber, you have this whole board to help you and a better help system now that ever before. Nothing is perfect of course.

        .
        Dave Mason
        [email protected]
        Skype is dave.mason46

        Comment


          #5
          Re: Replacement for Alpha 4?

          Yes but...as I've explained I've TRIED Alpha 5 already. Its too Access-like. Things are not two keystroke, i.e., intuitive by default. They've have been re-arranged to be less intuitive. This isn't just me being difficult about new software. Its a shift in perspective on Alpha's part.

          I challenge you to find one person on the Alpha 5 forums who:
          > Isn't a developer
          > Has never used Alpha 4
          > Yet has taken up Alpha 5 and uses it as his default, no-coding-necessary contact organizer.

          Such people DO NOT EXIST. Everyone on the Alpha 5 forums is either a developer or has transitioned because they started with Alpha 4.

          So I'm looking for an ALTERNATIVE. I'm on the Alpha 4 forums because, well, the rest of the universe has never heard of Alpha4 - and some nostalgic Alpha4 passer-through might see what I'm going through, understand my pain, and recommend this generation's equivalent to Alpha4.

          Comment


            #6
            Re: Replacement for Alpha 4?

            I challenge you to find one person on the Alpha 5 forums who:
            > Isn't a developer
            > Has never used Alpha 4
            > Yet has taken up Alpha 5 and uses it as his default, no-coding-necessary contact organizer.
            :) Is there a prize?? I know of two.
            Mike
            __________________________________________
            It is only when we forget all our learning that we begin to know.
            It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see.
            Henry David Thoreau
            __________________________________________



            Comment


              #7
              Re: Replacement for Alpha 4?

              There SHOULD be a prize :) But as an Alphaholic you would know a large number of Alpha 5 users, among whom 2 strictly-no-coding users isn't perhaps so unimaginable as I first thought. But moving the goal posts a little, if you could find me a non-Alpha 5 REPLACEMENT for Alpha 4, then I'm happy to consider a prize!

              Comment


                #8
                Re: Replacement for Alpha 4?

                Mathew,

                I know of 16+ people who have made apps in a5 that never did anything before and have not written any code.

                It may be not turning loose of what you learned in a4 that makes it a daunting task. A5 is for non programmers, but some learned to go beyond that. Some, way beyond.

                Ever think that many thousands of copies of a5 have been sold, but you only see a few hundred people on here?

                You could try PureBasic, but that is all programming or PowerBasic and again all programming. Access and Filemaker Pro are also alternatives. I think a5 is easier and stronger or I would be there.

                A Japanese lady I know bought a copy(cheap one) and made her own tables for tracking a very complicated child support setup. Made her own 2 reports(got help on these with complcated calcs). Court was very impressed!



                .
                Dave Mason
                [email protected]
                Skype is dave.mason46

                Comment

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