Re: Visual Basic, ODBC and Oracle 6

Jeff Kopmanis (jeffk_at_garnet.msen.com) wrote:

: VB is *ALOT* cheaper. PB is *ALOT* more powerful. You get what you pay
: for. For medium strength apps, VB is probably OK, but for bigger stuff, PB
: would be the tool of choice. VB also has a much wider support and 3rd-party
: library hook-ins than PB.
 

: --
: Jeff Kopmanis (Ann Arbor, Michigan) | email: jeffk_at_msen.com
: Organizer of the Linux Software Map (LSM) | phone: (313) 393-4784 (work)
: "So shines a good deed in a weary world." -Willy Wonk

In my experiences and based upon discussions with many PowerBuilder and Visual Basic users, I have found that VB gives more flexibility, more functionality, and more control over the application. With VB 3.0 and all of the add-on tools that are available, I would say that VB is a stronger product. PB has some nice features (e.g. check-in/check-out) with some inheritance capabilities, but I do not feel these features in themselves warrant the extra cost of PB (more than $2500) especially with all of PB's limitations. Companies have complained about hitting brick-walls and severe performance problems. They often have to exit out of PB into C coding. I have found that PB seems to be most successful in smaller applications. Not too long ago, a _reference_ for PowerBuilder ranted and raved for over 1 hour about the product, he was so upset. He said that his company ( a major PB user) was moving over to ObjectView and VB. He also said that he knows of many other large corporations who are decommitting to PB. This is pretty much what I have gathered from talking to other large corporations and analysts in this area.

• ich -- Richard Finkelstein Voice: 312-549-8325 Performance Computing, Inc. Fax: 312-549-4824 Chicago, IL Mail: rfinkel_at_infochi.com