Post #3229947

2026-06-09 16:01 UTC

Back in the '80s and '90s, there was a category of software pejoratively referred to as "databases for dentists." Desktop relational databases like dBase, FoxPro and Access were incredibly flexible. You could apply them to nearly any business situation by writing a little business logic and building a few forms. But understanding that required a degree of abstract thinking which most people don't have. So for a while, you could make a lot of money by taking a general-purpose database, slapping a few forms on it that were specific to a particular type of small business, and selling it to those businesses at a huge markup.

Replies (2)

@MaddieM4@raphus.social 2026-06-09 16:10

@jalefkowit@vmst.io A lifetime ago, I did driver's training at a place where one of the instructors - mine, as it happens - was this old guy who made the company IT infrastructure, on top of dBase specifically. It was DOG SLOW, like genuinely disruptive to business operations, because every little action for some reason had to fully synchronize the database between multiple computers in the office, each having a full master copy. Stuff would take minutes. I considered offering to help, but it quickly became clear that this would be a terrible idea, as the product had become deeply entwined with the author's ego and identity. Everyone else who worked there knew it was garbage but tiptoed around that fact. I was also fairly shy and mousey at that age, and he was a bit casually sexist, so we had some... personally differences on the road. Didn't get much out of all that.

Open ##3229946
@oxy@social.bsdlab.au 2026-06-09 16:37

@jalefkowit@vmst.io FileMaker **shudders**

Open ##3229961