On Fri, May 03, 2002 at 12:33:11PM -0400, David Siebert wrote:
> I have a wannabe programer that works for me and he my not for long, nagging
> me that we should use FoxPro instead of PostgreSQL and Java.
> I have tried and tried to explain this to him. I have tried to show him that
> FoxPro is not mainstream anymore. He is a pain in my butt. Would anyone like
> to point me to a comparison between FoxPro and PostgreSql. I can find
> comparisons between DB-2 or Oracle or MySQL and Postgres but not FoxPro. I
> can guess why. I hate being a dictator about things like and I have tried to
> help him by saying he could do one little internal project in FoxPro but he
> can not even get FoxPro to use ODBC to connect to Postgres. I do not care to
> learn anymore about ODBC than what I need to hook Openoffice calc to my
> database.
>
> By the way this guy does not even know how to do a binary or to decode a BCD
> date. When I asked if it FoxPro had a binary shift he told me it had lots of
> keyboard funtions :(
I used to do FoxPro, up to the point where it went Visual FoxPro. It's
not even comparable to engines like DB2, PostgreSQL, Sybase, Informix
and Oracle. It's simply not in the same league at all. Never was
intented to be. It is useful for some things, and it even has a SQL
interface of sorts. But it ain't PostgreSQL.
You're also right about FoxPro and the mainstream. Microsoft bought
FoxPro many years ago, and they've done little to really improve it.
Instead, they came up with Access and SQL Server. It's not one of their
favorite products. The main reason they keep it around is that there are
a lot of companies which have software written in it, and they can
continue to make some money off upgrades. I'm surprised it's lasted this
long.
I'd say this. If you're the boss, you get to make the rules. If
employees don't like it, tell 'em to hit the road. I hate to sound
mean-spirited, but I was an employee for many years, and now I run my
own business. I give employees their say, and I take their concerns into
account, but in the end, it's my company and my decision.
Paul
