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Latest Alpha Five Sales Model Opinions

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    Latest Alpha Five Sales Model Opinions

    Hello,

    I've been an Alpha Five user for a number of years and keep receiving e-mails for offers for this feature pack and that feature pack. I'm curious as to whether folks are happy with purchasing the base product and then having to add this option and that option to build applications they want? I purchased version 11 but haven't had the chance to install it yet. I'm curious if the base product is just a base platform and you are now forced into purchasing the feature packs to unleash all the bells and whistles?

    Thank you for your replies.

    John M

    #2
    Re: Latest Alpha Five Sales Model Opinions

    In my opinion version 11 as a base product is a major step up from 10.5, last year I decided to purchase a subscription package because I needed to get my app web based and this seemed the best deal. I have now extended my subscription early because of the value this offers. Therefore I get ever bell and whistle until Christmas 2013 and am already looking forward to some of the forthcoming innovations that have Ben hinted at

    Comment


      #3
      Re: Latest Alpha Five Sales Model Opinions

      Hi John,
      I'm curious if the base product is just a base platform and you are now forced into purchasing the feature packs to unleash all the bells and whistles?
      You are not forced to purchase anything more that you have right now. What you need to look at, is which bell or whistle you want to use in your web app. Only you can decide. Lance like many others have bought the long term subscription, which as he says gives him all the bells and whistles and those yet to come till the end of next year.

      You are now left with a choice of what do you need and how much do you want to spend or save.
      Regards
      Keith Hubert
      Alpha Guild Member
      London.
      KHDB Management Systems
      Skype = keith.hubert


      For your day-to-day Needs, you Need an Alpha Database!

      Comment


        #4
        Re: Latest Alpha Five Sales Model Opinions

        I have no objection to A5's sales model. I agree with Keith that you pay for what you want. Also, it has to be of help to A5 by giving them a second revenue stream from add-ins.

        My concern is mentioned in my earlier post. All the promotions for the past many weeks has been driven to the web development side. I confess I am a bit fearful that they may be losing interest in those of us who develop for the desktop. This is especially worrisome for me as I am in the middle of developing or at least trying to develop a new off the shelf desktop app built on A5. Probably an unnecessary worry given A5's history but still it does trouble me. I don't want to invest my time in a product that is at the end of its life. MS is notorious, my opinion, for dropping or changing development tools without much care for the developers who use them. Consider Access and FoxPro as two examples; with Silverlight likely to be dropped in favor of HTML5.

        So the sales model is fine, I just worry about the focus on one side of the shop to the exclusion of the other.
        Regards,

        John W.
        www.CustomReportWriters.net

        Comment


          #5
          Re: Latest Alpha Five Sales Model Opinions

          Originally posted by SailorDance View Post
          I'm curious as to whether folks are happy with purchasing the base product and then having to add this option and that option to build applications they want? I purchased version 11 but haven't had the chance to install it yet. I'm curious if the base product is just a base platform and you are now forced into purchasing the feature packs to unleash all the bells and whistles?
          Ditto on major improvements comment on version 11 over 10.5. Also, feature packs from v.10 became standard features in v.11. This seems like a good model. Much like other products, cars for instance where some of the advanced features (e.g. FM radio, ABS, remote door locks, etc) are introduced at a premium, but eventually find their way into the standard offering. While I have (and recently extended) a subscription, I work with others using the base product. The vast majority of the functionality is available in the base product. I'm not sure if I've used any feature not in the base product yet.

          Comment


            #6
            Re: Latest Alpha Five Sales Model Opinions

            I am more prone to use the base product for desktop and making what I need. I also keep my apps pretty simple. If I were going to use some of the feature packs, I would look at the costs versus the subscription. It just makes sense to me.

            If I go to the web, I probably will not use alpha for that. There are other products out there and a ton more coming that could be a lot less for a lot more. Alpha is in the running, but does not fare well on unix/linux and that is a must for me. Server is the issue for my useage.

            I would prefer to stay with Alpha for all!
            Dave Mason
            [email protected]
            Skype is dave.mason46

            Comment


              #7
              Web development

              .
              Hi Dave,
              I think it would be great if the Alpha Five Web Server could run with Linux. I am curious to know what other web development tools are comparable to Alpha Five v11, especially in terms of:
              • Ease in developing dynamic web sites
              • Reliability (bug level)
              • Affordability



              Thank you,
              Felix
              .

              Comment


                #8
                Re: Latest Alpha Five Sales Model Opinions

                I will give one "up and comer" (and free-open source). They like donations! It helps to continue.
                www.wakanda.org
                They will have mysql in a very short time. They are working on it now. That is all I am waiting on.
                DataBase driven web and desktop( I think by html/css/js/etc). You would put your site on a server inhouse. They do have a server for nosql.
                Pretty good forum too.
                They also go deeply into the phone apps.

                Currently, they use nosql, which is somewhat proprietary. Not to my liking.

                I do use web page 9 pro by avanquest for my pages. I tried web page x5(x 6 is coming out in a few days), but had some problems arise. Both of these can connect to sql, but are primarily web page/site makers and cost about 50.00.

                The free one from alpha with some of their promotions, sucks.
                Last edited by DaveM; 05-27-2012, 11:01 AM.
                Dave Mason
                [email protected]
                Skype is dave.mason46

                Comment


                  #9
                  Re: Latest Alpha Five Sales Model Opinions

                  I don't know, but Wakanda looks to me like you need to do a lot of coding w. JavaScript, if not be a true JS expert!
                  Peter
                  AlphaBase Solutions, LLC

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


                  Comment


                    #10
                    Re: Latest Alpha Five Sales Model Opinions

                    Peter,

                    You are somewhat correct, but making a good app in alpha requires a great deal of coding(albeit not as much). JS/Xbasic/HTML/etc. all similar? just a bit different.

                    Remember, it does not cost 1499+- and comes with the nosql server. It will have mysql connections shortly.

                    Sorry, I am not trying to sell it to you. I will shut up now.

                    By the way: Look at these
                    http://animate.discoverproductivity.co.uk/zoom.html
                    http://wowslider.com/
                    Last edited by DaveM; 05-27-2012, 12:37 PM.
                    Dave Mason
                    [email protected]
                    Skype is dave.mason46

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Web development tools

                      .
                      Dave,
                      Thank you for the information.


                      Regards,
                      Felix
                      .

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Re: Latest Alpha Five Sales Model Opinions

                        No, that was an interesting excursion, Dave. Again, to me it looks like a product for hard core JS programmers. And even their YouTube video, one called "centerdiv" required hand coded CSS, so that's a hard sell for your typical alpha user. Yes, those other 2 sites have some pretty amazing web (non-database) products. Thanks for sharing.
                        Peter
                        AlphaBase Solutions, LLC

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


                        Comment


                          #13
                          Re: Latest Alpha Five Sales Model Opinions

                          NoSQL vs MySQL ... the SFW version :-)

                          http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QU34ZVD2ylY
                          Cheers!
                          Lyle Chamney
                          http://www.2ninerniner2.com/
                          Websites rebuilt with WordPress
                          http://goodcheapfastwebsites.com/
                          Complete, ready to install WordPress websites
                          http://snifflevalve.com
                          WordPress training and tutorials

                          Comment


                            #14
                            Re: Latest Alpha Five Sales Model Opinions

                            John, back to the question.
                            It appears that the original concept of Alpha - the provision of a composite database application generator (Circa 1992) has changed.
                            I don't subscribe as I disagree with the change in concept and believe that the subscription is too expensive and if I paid $1400 I'd want a lifetime of upgrades.
                            To my mind, the product should be complete, as was the original. What we have now is an annual fee for "fixes".

                            Now I understand the needs for marketing hype and revenue streams but the whole lot seems to be off the rails.

                            The changeover from DeskTop to Web is effectively a mishmash posing as an easy way forward. Not so. It falls between two stools and there are other products coming on line which make the Web side easier than the Alpha side.
                            Having tried to develop a website/web pages using Alpha and given up in favour of a freeware which is 100% easier, and I'm still a huge fan of the development toolkit for desktop, IMHO the web side is still too complex as it has so many of the old tick boxes and selection proceses to make it workable.

                            (Lyle, I want one of those working for me!)
                            See our Hybrid Option here;
                            https://hybridapps.example-software.com/


                            Apologies to anyone I haven't managed to upset yet.
                            You are held in a queue and I will get to you soon.

                            Comment


                              #15
                              Re: Latest Alpha Five Sales Model Opinions

                              To my mind, the product should be complete, as was the original.
                              Yes it should and v11 is not complete because the smart phone part is still in the oven. I'm not complaining because I think that was a bigger bite than what they thought and the prudent thing was to release what they had and work on the rest until they get it right. I have no problem with that assuming that is their approach.

                              As far as the many subscription offers, I don't like that approach especially since v11 delivery is not complete. I'm not against a subscription package but one has to evaluate what will be delivered. There is no itemized list of what will be delivered so one is buying "trust". To say that I have received $$ value thus far is only partially true for me (and probably most users as well) since I don't have a need for all the feature packs. True, what I got has a certain value but what isn't used is of no value. My point is, we don't have any idea what feature packs are in the works so to buy a subscription with 5 months to go on the present one and v11 not completely delivered, the offer needs to be a LOT sweeter before I take the plunge. Again, my intention is not to knock Alpha but in reality, that's the way it is.
                              TYVM :) kenn

                              Knowing what you can achieve will not become reality until you imagine and explore.

                              Comment

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