| Subject | Re: You Ask - What Is The Future Direction For dBASE2019 |
| From | Andy Taylor <andy.taylor.1959@outlook.com> |
| Date | Fri, 7 Apr 2023 13:12:54 +0100 |
| Newsgroups | dbase.getting-started |
Hi Paul, Speaking for myself I am happy to see that work continues on the next version of dBASE and welcome this confirmation. The future revenue stream is critical to the ongoing success of the company and you might want to consider adding a mailchimp email blast to find out how many of your existing customers would be happy to switch to a subscription licence and what they might like in return from dBASE. I would be happy to do that; in return for small but regular product patches. I'll drop you a separate line on interesting uses of dBASE - I have one where it's use in extraction of data from a website and the writing of a replacement investment account system has been fundamental to a legal case. The legal case is ongoing and I'll have to check how much I can share. Andy > Dear Mervyn et al, > > I will be speaking for myself, Mike will chime in if he has anything he wants to add to the conversation. > > I understand your concerns about the lack of communication from dBase, LLC. I want to assure you that we are committed to the future of dBASE and are working hard to develop a new product that will meet the needs of our customers. We are a small team and it will takes us longer to deliver than before especially when confronted with a worldwide epidemic and family health concerns. > > I know that it has been over three years since the last dBASE upgrade, and I apologize for the delay. We have been working on a number of new features and improvements for the next version of dBASE, and we wanted to make sure that we got it right before we released it or even talked about it. We also know that everytime we've announced a new beta version, sales for the existing version drop to near zero. We still have people depending on us for their pay even with the very reduced income stream. In many ways, we are like that duck on the pond who looks perfectly still but underwater his feet are moving a mile a minute. > > I understand that the lack of updates and communication, especially email blasts, has been frustrating for you and other dBASE users. I take responsibility for the lower volume of email blasts. I heard from many people on our email list that it was too much, too often. We've also been concentrating our resources on product development and not educational email content so the production of educations emails has been very limited. > > I want to invite anyone who is interested and has an interesting story about using dBASE to solve a unique problem or even a programming challenge that they've overcome that they want to share to send me an email and I will review it along with other members of the team and share it with everyone else if appropriate. > > I want to assure you that we are committed to providing you with the information you'll need to evaluate the next version of dBASE software. We will be providing updates on the development of the new product when the delivery to Beta is imminent, and we will be sure to communicate with you before we make any major changes. > > Thank you for your patience and understanding. > > Regards, > > Paul McGee > VP Sales and Operations > dBase, LLC > | |