DBase

DBase
ParadigmImperative, declarative
DeveloperCecil Wayne Ratliff[1][2]
First appeared1979; 45 years ago (1979)
Stable release
dBASE 2019 / 2019; 5 years ago (2019)
Implementation languageC
OSMicrosoft DOS
Microsoft Windows
LicenseProprietary
Websitewww.dbase.com
Influenced by
RETRIEVE, JPLDIS
Influenced
Clipper, WordTech products, Harbour. FoxBASE+, FoxPro, Visual FoxPro, VP-Info

dBase (also stylized dBASE) was one of the first database management systems for microcomputers and the most successful in its day.[3] The dBase system included the core database engine, a query system, a forms engine, and a programming language that tied all of these components together.

Originally released as Vulcan for PTDOS in 1978, the CP/M port caught the attention of Ashton-Tate in 1980. They licensed it, re-released it as dBASE II, and later ported it to IBM PC computers running DOS. On the PC platform in particular, dBase became one of the best-selling software titles for a number of years. A major upgrade was released as dBase III and ported to a wider variety of platforms, including UNIX and VMS. By the mid-1980s, Ashton-Tate was one of the "big three" software publishers in the early business-software market,[4] along with Lotus Development and WordPerfect.[4]

Starting in the mid-1980s, several companies produced their own variations on the dBase product and especially the dBase programming language. These included FoxBASE+ (later renamed FoxPro), Clipper, and other so-called xBase products. Many of these were technically stronger than dBase, but could not push it aside in the market.[5] This changed with the poor reception of dBase IV, whose design and stability were so lacking that many users switched to other products.[6]

In the early 1990s, xBase products constituted the leading database platform for implementing business applications. The size and impact of the xBase market did not go unnoticed, and within one year, the three top xBase firms were acquired by larger software companies:

By the opening decade of the 21st century, most of the original xBase products had faded from prominence and many had disappeared entirely. Products known as dBase[12] still exist, owned by dBase LLC.[13][14]

  1. ^ "The FoxPro History - Interview with Wayne Ratliff". www.foxprohistory.org.
  2. ^ Lammers, Susan M (1986). "C. Wayne Ratliff". Programmers at Work. Microsoft Press. p. 110. ISBN 0-914845-71-3.
  3. ^ Lazzareschi, Carla (December 15, 1990). "The Creator of dBase Software Maintains That It Is Original". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved April 26, 2017.
  4. ^ a b Zonana, Victor F. (May 10, 1987). "ASHTON-TATE : Confronting a Hard Life in the World of Software". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 3 December 2015.
  5. ^ Lewis, Peter H (August 19, 1990). "The Executive Computer; Can the New dBASE Solve Ashton-Tate's problems?". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 25 May 2015. dBASE had 40 percent of the data base market in 1989, compared with 62.5 percent in 1985.
  6. ^ Chapman, Merrill R. (2006), "The Horror, the Horror", In Search of Stupidity: Over Twenty Years of High-Tech Marketing Disasters, Second Edition, Apress, pp. 81–83, ISBN 1-59059-721-4
  7. ^ "Worst tech mergers and acquisitions: Novell and Unix, Borland Ashton-Tate". ZDNet. In 1995, Novell sold the operating system to SCO. ... In 1991, Ashton-Tate merged with Borland
  8. ^ Lazzareschi, Carla (11 July 1991). "Borland to Acquire Ashton-Tate in a $439-Million Deal". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 12 December 2015.
  9. ^ Pollack, Andrew (March 25, 1992). "Microsoft to Try New Market By Acquiring Fox Software". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 23 April 2015.
  10. ^ Weber, Jonathan (March 25, 1992). "Microsoft to Buy Fox Software to Get Database Line". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. In its first major acquisition, software powerhouse Microsoft Corp. announced Tuesday that it will buy privately held Fox Software for about $173 million
  11. ^ Brownstein, Mark (May 11, 1992). "CA acquisition of Nantucket consolidates XBase arena". InfoWorld. Vol. 14, no. 19. p. 8.
  12. ^ "dBASE® 2019". store.dbase.com. Retrieved 2022-07-13.
  13. ^ "About Us". store.dbase.com. Retrieved 2022-07-13.
  14. ^ "dBASE® the Home of all things dBASE®". dBase.com. Retrieved 2022-07-13.