Special Anniversary Celebration Pricing for dBASE CLASSIC™

To celebrate the original dBASE™ 5.0’s Eighteenth Anniversary, dBase, LLC is happy to announce special pricing for the entire month of October 2012. The dBASE™ platform on DOS was one of the most used databases in the historic timeline of dBASE™ and to this day still represents a significant number of our users. In fact, almost half of the dBASE™ user community is still using some form of the DOS based dBASE™ product.

Back in 1994, Borland dBASE™ 5.0 for DOS was release at a retail price of $799 USD for a new license. For a limited time, that same full license of dBASE™ will be available for $79 USD. That is just 10% of its introductory price from eighteen years ago. There has never been a better time to upgrade your applications from dBASE™ III, IV (1.0, 1.5, and 2.0) to dBASE CLASSIC™. Here are just a few of the reasons you should upgrade:

• dBASE CLASSIC™ is Based on the Borland dBASE™ 5.0 for DOS.
• Full 32-bit operation for superior performance: dBASE CLASSIC™ runs in 32-bit mode while remaining 100% compatible with 16-bit programs, tables, forms, and reports created by previous versions of dBASE™. dBASE CLASSIC™ applications run up to twice as fast as their equivalents created in prior versions of dBASE™ IV. In many operations, dBASE CLASSIC™ will run hundreds of times faster than previous versions of dBASE™ III PLUS.
• 100% backwards compatible with prior version from dBASE™ III through dBASE™ IV 2.0
• One of the most exciting new features of dBASE CLASSIC™ is its two-way graphical Form Designer tools, which allows developers to work interchangeably between their visual design and source code. The source code created by the Form Designer can be edited and customized, and the changes made are instantly reflected in the associated form.
• Integrated compiler for cost-effective distribution: dBASE CLASSIC™ includes a built-in compiler that simplifies the development cycle (no more switching back and forth between dBASE™ and the dBASE™ Compiler for development and debugging) and saves the expense of an add-on compiler.
• Other new features increase application capacities: New database and programming language enhancements increase the number of work areas, maximum size of records, and the number of fields per record. A new set of commands greatly enhance array processing.
• Includes the full shipping version of documentation in searchable PDF form
• The base version needed to convert to dBASE™ Plus and beyond
• Now available on CD (sorry, no floppy disk option available).

Here at dBase, we recognized that a large number of users are still using dBASE™ on MS-DOS platforms, which is why we introduced dbDOS™. Updating from prior versions of dBASE™ for DOS to the final and most stable release in order to maintain the longevity of these sometimes mission critical applications, is more than worth the effort. Until today, the only way to get a licensed copy of dBASE™ 5.0 for DOS was to purchase an upgrade or a new copy of dBASE™ PLUS 2.8 and purchase the additional CD. That was a costly matter for our customers that were not looking to upgrade their applications to a windows version of dBASE™ at this time.

Once this special promotion offer expires, the new dBASE CLASSIC™ stand-alone, fully licensed version of dBASE™ 5.0 for DOS will continue to be available at a price of $99.00 USD.

Also included exclusively with this stand-alone version are the searchable PDF versions of the entire documentation set that originally shipped with dBASE™ 5.0 for DOS. dBase is calling the included documentation a “box of docs” and for those customers who cannot remember, the original dBASE™ 5.0 for DOS was shipped with 5 manuals weighing just over 15 pounds. dBASE CLASSIC™ will not weigh that much, but it will have all the information that was shipped in the original dBASE™ 5.0 for DOS.

The dBASE CLASSIC™ promotional anniversary pricing for October 2012 will be available on both packages; the $79.00 USD stand-alone package, which includes the entire dBASE™ 5.0 for DOS product, and the $178.00 USD package, a bundle which includes both dBASE CLASSIC™ and dbDOS™. Both packages are sold on a per-user basis.