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by zokier 1242 days ago
Personally I find the whole dBase etc non-SQL kinda-graphical database systems interesting historical software branch that feels mostly died out these days. Access probably did quite a lot of damage here, killing out competitors before mostly succumbing itself.
2 comments
gcanyon 1242 days ago
FileMaker is still a thing. I don't know their internal financials, but they've steadily improved the product over the years. https://www.claris.com

Or if you want to go super-niche, Panorama is still around, and (they say) the longest-running Mac software developer apart from Microsoft. https://www.provue.com

Either one makes it easy to build a database+interface.

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digitalsankhara 1242 days ago
I had a distant memory about this Mac based spreadsheet/database thing but could not remember its name (Panorama). Couldn't surface it in searches either. Thought about it the other week and here we are!

Odd pricing though = pay in advance credits. Ummm, not something I'd like to use for work when I'm in the middle of an important analysis with a deadline and I (inevitably) run out of credits and have to start faffing about with in-app purchases. Maybe its not that bad and I'm being unfair.

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dangoor 1241 days ago
When I read your comment, I thought the credits system sounded like it was going to be complicated or messy and involving usage. Turns out that they're just trying to make a potentially more affordable subscription model that automatically accounts for times when you're not using the software.

Each credit allows a month of use. Seems pretty straightforward, but I agree with you that because these aren't an auto-renewing subscription you could find yourself needing to pay at an unexpected time.

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gavinmckenzie 1242 days ago
Takes me back to the days of dBase, Clipper, and my favourite FoxPro which was acquired by Microsoft and continued to exist in the 90s. Access definitely destroyed the market for these other products by combining aspects of Visual Basic and database tech.
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pstuart 1242 days ago
FoxPro on the Mac was wonderful. I learned SQL wrangling with analytics on it -- there weren't all the options we have today.
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