Subject Re: You Ask - What Is The Future Direction For dBASE2019 From Richard <rclark4@ncap.rr.com> Date Mon, 03 Apr 2023 13:42:20 -0400 Newsgroups dbase.getting-started Almost makes you yearn for the old days, when copy protection was a non-standard read/write on a floppy disk - and Norton Utilities could hack that with no sweat. On Mon, 3 Apr 2023 14:49:14 +0200, Mervyn Bick <invalid@invalid.invalid> wrote: >On 2023/04/02 18:57, Edward Racht wrote: >> Greetings, >> >> You ask:  What’s our direction into the future with no discussion as to >> what is wrong with the current direction. > >There is no apparent current direction to discuss.  dBase LLC appears to >be moribund. > >Despite that fact that there are several hundred issues which still need >to be resolved, there has been no upgrade to dBASE 2019 for three years. >  The last report in the bug-report newsgroup was acknowledged two years >ago.  The "Newsroom" page on the website was last updated two years ago. >  The CEO has not responded to an email sent about 7 weeks ago.  All of >these point to a company without a future. > >> So - Based on cost-benefit analyses and dedicated staff to get the job >> done - something positive will come for the dBASE LLC Application >> Development Environment it supports globally. > >Past achievements, no matter how impressive, mean absolutely nothing if >nothing is happening at present. > >> My position for the future direction is - FULL STEAM AHEAD!! > >I'm afraid dBase LLC seems to have completely run out of steam and that >spells potential disaster for anyone relying on dBASE for an income. > >Each copy of dBASE is licensed to a specific person and is not >transferable.  If you no longer use your copy of dBASE you can't sell it >or even give it away.  To help enforce this, each licensed copy can only >be installed a limited number of times.  Each time it is installed it >contacts a server at dBase LLC.  If it has installs available the >install is completed and the number of installs available is >decremented.  If a user runs out of installs due to the replacement of >equipment Customer Service will increase the number of installs if >convinced that the licensing conditions are not being broken. > >Sooner or later you are going to need to replace hardware and if dBase >LLC, or its successor, is not there to authorise an install on the new >equipment you are also out of the dBASE business. > >Mervyn.