[AccessD] OT StarOffice

Hi William, Martin and Seth

> ...its Adabase D from Software AG ...trouble is that afaik it only supports
> database functions in the other apps like a word merge or spreadsheet tables
> ...there is no standalone product interface, front-end, or VBA like program
> support ...which means its not even close to MySQL as a db development
> environment, much less Access :(

>> The database has always been seperate, not sure why, other than
>> tradition.  The name of the database app is Adabase D.  If you can find
>> that somewhere then you're home free.  I think I have a copy of it, but
>> the uni here also has a software contract with Sun.  I will say that 6.0
>> was a huge improvement over 5.2, mostly because 5.2 had a massive
>> integrated desktop environment that you had to use in order to use the
>> suite.  6.0 got rid of that garbage entirely.  I think it's much nicer
>> now.

In StarOffice 5 Adabas D was included as a separate install. Adabas D
was nothing more than an engine (like MySQL and PostgreSQL) not a
development tool like Access.

I haven't had the time to play with StarOffice 6 but as I've
understood it, Adabas D was pulled from the package because no one
used it. Instead a "Starbase" is added which from the description
sounds like something like "a beginner's Approach" (anybody please
correct me). 

Adabas D is in family with SAP DB which, too, is an engine only but a
powerful one (with some admin and sys tools) and not a development
tool. It is crossplatform an regarding capabilities, capacity and
features much more like Oracle and DB2 as it can run the huge SAP R/3
application. It is, however, totally free even for commercial
applications, but even though it is not a spin-off from SAP but fully
supported via an excellent mail list run by SAP.

Everything is on-line an worth a look if you need an engine for a
large database (limit is 32TB):

  http://www.sapdb.org/

/gustav