[kstrauser]

Probably my closest claim to fame was when I wrote a little utility, "pgdbf", that reads binary xBase files and writes out .sql files you can pipe into the psql command to turn them into PostgreSQL tables. I wrote it because my work needed it. Long story. Anyway, I asked my boss if I could release it under the GPLv3 and he agreed to it.

I was utterly gobsmacked to find that it became pretty popular in South America, where Visual FoxPro was wildly popular in some fields. VFP users were left with gigabytes of data in xBase and weren't sure how to easily get it into a "big" database. Someone found my little project and it spread like wildfire, to the point that I got invited to a few conferences to speak about it. I wasn't able to go at the time because of life reasons, but one of my minor regrets was not going to Brazil to talk to a roomful of people who somehow, some way, all decided that I'd written a roadmap to get them out of a pickle.

Thanks, Ashton-Tate. I have some fun stories to tell due to your inventions.

[ASalazarMX]

I can attest xBase (dBase, Clipper, etc.) were BIG in Latin America. It was a combination of running flawlessly in limited hardware, a full-stack development environment (before that was a thing), and ease of installation. It was decades ahead of its time.

Its pinnacle was Fox Pro LAN, at which point Microsoft embraced (bought), extended (Visual Fox Pro), and extinguished it. Microsoft didn't randomly gain a reputation for being evil, it thoroughly earned that.

[kstrauser]

That jibes with my understanding, based purely on anecdotes from users. It seemed like there was an entire, thriving community south of me who Microsoft completely abandoned.

[shiroiushi]

They should have simply migrated, at their own great expense, to Microsoft SQL Server. /s

Anyway, this should be a good lesson for anyone thinking about using Microsoft technologies.

[kstrauser]

I personally know a shop that was halfway through a migration from VFP to a Django web app. After a key person left, they tossed it and moved to, and I can't believe I'm saying this, VB.NET. I wanted to shake them: "have you learned nothing?"

[pjmlp]

To add my voice to sibling comments, up to CA's acquisition of Clipper on the mid-90's, database development in the Iberian Peninsula was all about xBase.

DBase, and all its derivatives were everywhere.

Additionally, before VB and Delphi took over this market, many MS-DOS xBase refugees found a new home in Visual Fox Pro.