RE: A4V7 is it worth it?
In thinking through the various discussion points of this thread, there's a point not brought out explicitly that may be implicit in many of the comments by A4 advocates.
It is simply this. Many of us have invested much time and effort in the Alpha Four series, to the point where we have become true experts in a skill developed over the years. It's a skill that yields results -- i.e., there's nothing obsolete about this skill. Many large (much data, much functionality, many users, etc.) applications developed in Alpha Four exist without the need to be rewritten or migrated to a true Windows product. In fact, many of these applications are best used in a keystroke rather than mouse oriented way, given the fast typing skills of data entry personnel who are more productive when they're not handling a mouse. Of course there are the other types of applications where the use of a mouse in a true GUI environment is the more productive method.
The world, therefore, is divided into the A4-preferred apps and the A5-preferred apps. No one size fits all.
But my bigger point is this. Those of us who have invested in the development of a skill to produce professional, functionally advanced A4 apps are reluctant to just discard that skill simply to substitute A5 in its place. One can master both A4 and A5 and find a place for each.
Therefore, I would advocate, to the extent possible, that Alpha Software find a way to keep the fundamental A4 development model going into the future operating systems where DOS is not likely to play a part. If that can be done, then those with the investment in A4 can continue to perfect the art of A4 development. And if A4 can be extended with functionality to versions 8, 9, 10, etc., I can't see why part of the world won't view A4 as their product of choice, and thereby continue to purchase A4 in favor of the true GUI databases.
In thinking through the various discussion points of this thread, there's a point not brought out explicitly that may be implicit in many of the comments by A4 advocates.
It is simply this. Many of us have invested much time and effort in the Alpha Four series, to the point where we have become true experts in a skill developed over the years. It's a skill that yields results -- i.e., there's nothing obsolete about this skill. Many large (much data, much functionality, many users, etc.) applications developed in Alpha Four exist without the need to be rewritten or migrated to a true Windows product. In fact, many of these applications are best used in a keystroke rather than mouse oriented way, given the fast typing skills of data entry personnel who are more productive when they're not handling a mouse. Of course there are the other types of applications where the use of a mouse in a true GUI environment is the more productive method.
The world, therefore, is divided into the A4-preferred apps and the A5-preferred apps. No one size fits all.
But my bigger point is this. Those of us who have invested in the development of a skill to produce professional, functionally advanced A4 apps are reluctant to just discard that skill simply to substitute A5 in its place. One can master both A4 and A5 and find a place for each.
Therefore, I would advocate, to the extent possible, that Alpha Software find a way to keep the fundamental A4 development model going into the future operating systems where DOS is not likely to play a part. If that can be done, then those with the investment in A4 can continue to perfect the art of A4 development. And if A4 can be extended with functionality to versions 8, 9, 10, etc., I can't see why part of the world won't view A4 as their product of choice, and thereby continue to purchase A4 in favor of the true GUI databases.
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