MEETING DATE: Friday April 18, 2008

Jim Smith

"Alpha Software"

  

 

Jim Smith is standing in for Richard Rabins who was previously announced as the speaker.
In the July 2002 newsletter "Alpha Software" (http://newsletter.alphasoftware.com/jsmith.htm) Jim was quoted :

"I've been working with computers and software, one way or another, since 1964. In the early nineties I started making database applications and worked with products sold by various companies, including Microsoft, Borland, Lotus, TopSpeed and Alpha Software. There's no doubt in my mind that Alpha Software's products are head and shoulders above the rest of the field, including the Big Boys. I started working exclusively with Alpha Five v4 in 1999 and later became an Alpha Five Consultant.

For ease of use, power, versatility and speed, I found Alpha Five v4 to be just about unbeatable. That is, until I tried the Beta version of Alpha5V5. It appears that Alpha Five version 5 will be to version 4 what v4 is to 'the rest of the field'. It gives the programmer virtually total control over not only the application he is building, but the programming environment as well. It's not just a cosmetic facelift of v4, but a brand new ballgame with more new features than I have time to list. I like it. You will too."

The April 2008 BCUG Bytes feature article written by Fred Kagel says:

Alpha Software, based in Burlington, Mass., declares in their mission statement that their goal is “to build cutting edge database software that enables our customers to build breakthrough applications and solve database management problems rapidly and easily.”

Since the 1980s, Alpha Software has produced true relational databases with many features that require no programming skills. A recent BCUG database workshop featured Alpha Software, demonstrating its powerful, yet easy-to-use field rules which enhance data entry speed and accuracy.

Some of Alpha’s products include Alpha Five Version 8, software designed to develop database applications for the desktop and for the web. There are three editions of this software: Desktop Edition, designed for home and standalone users; Professional Edition, designed for users to create desktop and web-based solutions, and Enterprise Edition, which adds to the Professional Edition the ability to work with SQL databases and other advanced features.

Second only to word processing, databases are the most commonly used computer software.