The LA Fox Developer Newsletter

May 1995

President’s Column (Con't from page 2)

ing the database requirements of large enterprises,

where they are in competition with Oracle, Sybase,

and IBM more than Borland. Lotus, and Novell. The

view contains the same “Backoffice” idea expressed

at the recent Tech Ed Conference - an emphasis on

multiple-server environments, with a large number

of servers of several different types, widely distrib-

uted, highly connected, and well integrated. I think

the message for us is that people who can under-

stand and work effectively with the likes of Visual

FoxPro today, will find an abundance of opportuni-

ties in the future. Incidentally, David is also the

author of the excellent book called “Client\Server

Strategies” that I mentioned last year - it’s still worth

a read.

The entire April issue of Upside magazine is de-

voted to Microsoft. The focus is the business point

of view, not the programming or development point

of view, and not about any particular product. But

this is a good source if you want some fuel for

heated discussions about Microsoft conspiracy

theories or its “monopoly” position. One of the

underlying themes is that Microsoft leadership was

a major factor in building the strong position that the

PC software industry enjoys today, and their huge

and risky investments in dollars and energy created

the markets and educated the consumers for the

benefit of all in the industry. The basic editorial

position is that “the risk of government intervention

screwing up the industry is greater than the risk of

Microsoft thwarting innovation or extracting mo-

nopoly prices.” At any rate there are cogent argu-

ments on both sides, and good interviews with the

Microsoft management team - Bill Gates, Steve

Ballmer, and Mike Maples - and with a wide variety

of other business leaders.

Announcements

The annual dDay Fair is happening again this year.

This is a major opportunity for local database ori-

ented folks to meet and listen to several industry

leaders, all in one convenient place, without the

hassle and the price of most database conferences.

The date is June 24, and the place is the Warner

Center in Woodland Hills. The price is right - $25.

We will have order blanks at the meeting - or call

(818) 889-7022.

(Con't, page 9)

Out and About (Con't from page 1)

Microsoft’s DevDays. He is a nationally recognized

speaker, touring the country with Application Develop-

ers Training Company. He is the author of Template

Programming in FoxPro 2 and President of his own

company, Perpetual Data Systems. He’ll be speaking

on developing apps in VFP, specifically moving 2.X

applications into VFP.

July 17, 1995, 7:30 PM - Voysys. Mike Seto, from

Voysys, will demonstrating his company’s wares.

However, this is a sales pitch. One of the more

popular exhibitors at DevCon, this company’s prod-

ucts provide functions to answer the phone, gather

touch tone digits as menu options, the ability to

“speak” numeric and date data to users who call in,

and to accept numeric input for table updates. It’s an

interactive voice response (IVR) toolkit and it’s done

in FoxPro. We’ll probably get a peek at the code

behind this technology, so don’t miss this one.

This is indeed a rare opportunity to see these people

when they’re not surrounded by hundreds of people

clamoring for their expertise. It’s like comparing a

sold-out stadium concert with the intimacy of a small

nightclub.

These people will join a list of speakers who have

presented to LA Fox that reads like a ‘Who’s Who” in

the Xbase/FoxPro development community:

Bill House

Lisa Slater

Les Pinter

Adam Greene

John Miller

Savannah Brentnall

Nancy Jacobson

David Anderson

Dick Bard

Mike Feltman

Since We Last Met....

This is Really Important!! ! Due to a combination of

scheduling conflicts and Torrance Airport rules for

their meeting rooms, LA Fox meetings have been

changed from the third Wednesday to the third

Monday of every month from the June meeting

through November. Meeting times will remain at 7:30

PM. If there are any questions, please call Chuck

Williams at (310) 539-9439, CIS# 72330,2326, or

Barry Lee at (714) 968-4225, CIS# 72723,3422.

Last month, I made mention of Neon Software

releasing their latest offering, FoxExpress v2.6. Well,

(Con't, page 4)

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