Re: HELP: Please help, what client-tool to use for developing client-server applications?

pavlidis_at_ibm.net (Savas Pavlidis) wrote:

>Prior of buying, and most of all dedicated to one client tool for
>developing client-server applications, I would like the comments of
>users who already have the experience of more than one to make a
>comparison among them.
 

>In my company we are thinking of moving from our COBOL legacy system
>to client-server. Observed several rdbms, and settled to Oracle or
>Sybase, because they have good support here in Greece. The problem
>aroused for the tools. Oracle wants to use their products
>(developer2000 and designer2000) which seems good at spec, but we have
>heard numerous things for them (they GPF, they are heavy, they are
>slow etc) but one main thing that made us give a second thought, it
>was their price, which is very expensive (at least here in Greece,
>where salaries are too slow compared to US for example). On the other
>end, Sybase moves its Powerbuilder, for which I heard also same things
>as an immature product too, and slow. In usenet several users propose
>other products (Delphi, Jam etc) which makes the situtation even worse
>for us to decide. We are only two (2) developers, and our budget is
>low, so we can't afford the money and most of all the time, to test
>every possible platform (or even some of them) before we decide. And
>because the time invested on one tool, plus the money for education on
>this would be too much to later abandon,
 

>WE WOULD LIKE YOUR OPINIONS PLEASE !!!!!
 
>We seek the opinions of developers who tried more than one of the
>products (Developer2000/Designer2000, Powerbuilder/S-Designor, Delphi2
>C/S, VisualBasic, Jam etc ) and can give their opinions. Some notes of
>the strengths of their preferred tool that is not available on others
>is highly prefered.
>Also sites with documents which compare various tools would be
>helpful.
 

>Thanks in advance.
 

>Please reply also by e-mail, because I may miss the post, due to IBM
>which has a lot of problems with it's news servers the last year.
 

>Savas Pavlidis
 

>pavlidis_at_ibm.net

Savas,

     I am a consultant who specializes in C/S systems. WHat I have found over the years is that with the properly designed C/S design you can have hte best of both worlds when it comes to front ends and RDBMS's.

     I, as well as a few others who worked with/for me spent a full year evaluating various front ends as well as database engines. After this, as well as many dollars, we found this combination to stand out the best:

	SQL Server (Either Sybase or Microsoft) - Database Engine
	Omnis 7 - Front end development
	Silver Run - CASE

     I presently have a group who continues to perform R&D on products

     PowerBuilder doesn't always allow for true cross platform functionality. It is stronger on a PC, and if developed on a PC, doesn't have all of the functionality on a Macintosh. Coding is more involved, taking longer to develop an application.

     Delphi - on the right track, but still has a ways to go.

     In all cases, you will have to have your developers proficient in other languages as well, usually C++.

     With Omnis 7, yes, there is a slightly longer learning curve, but in the past 7 years, I have needed something that wasn't built into it twice. In both cases, I contacted individuals who specialized in developing externals (.DLL's for PC's) and had it created. All of my clients are Fortune 500 and above, and each one enjoys the applications developed for them.

Steve Jimmo
sjimmo_at_tiac.net Received on Tue Apr 01 1997 - 00:00:00 CEST