Re: [libreoffice-users] Re: Where is Base?

Hello,
I am an "old" DB-User in the real sense of the word (I am over 70!).
In the 90ies I got into DB2 as a systems engineer at IBM. Then, around
the turn of the millenium, I set up a database for the administration of a
50-piece wind band, using Lotus-Approach (DBase...). It was fine
but I wanted to go "Open Software" and - when stumbling onto
StarOffice/OpenOffice and Base - it was clear to me to go for that
"scene". Since then I have been using MySQL as external back-end
and must say I am more than happy with it. My DB consists of some
80 interconnected tables/views with record numbers up to around
40.000. This is handled perfectly fine by MySQL (maybe MariaDB in the
near future!).
Of course - as an "old" DB-guy I have no qualms about using the
command-line mysql client directly for doing things like defining
DBs, tables, views, foreign keys etc. Therefore, if there are any 
limitations
in the LO-front end, it is o.k. for me.
I do feel strongly though, that if we ever want LO to become a REALLY
important player (especially within the business world!), a stable, 
scalable
interface to REAL databases (with sometimes millions of DB-tuples) will
have to be implemented. Internal, integrated backends are o.k. for
playing around but NOT for mission-critical, large-scale operations.
Regards
Heinz


Tom Davies schrieb:
> Hi :)
> +1
>
> One advantage of Base is that it can connect to such a wide range of other
> database programs.  It is kinda the default way of using Base.  MS Access
> can be twisted into using an external database but it's not as easy to
> set-up that way as Base.
>
> Kexi and other front-ends can be used either alongside Base or on other
> systems by other users to use the same external back-end as the Base users
> connect to.  Again this "playing well with others" is a huge advantage that
> Access doesn't have by default.
>
>
> Sadly the marketing team, if and when they ever mention Base, focus on
> using the internal back-end and never even mention the advantages that Base
> has.  This could be one reason why we see so many people using the internal
> back-end and comparing it negatively against Access.
>
> Unfortunately the marketing team took such strong offence to my objections
> to their attempts to market Base on it's weakest points instead of it's
> strength that they banned me from posting to their mailing list at all.
> Sometimes i am really not a "people person"!
>
>
> I think if we do mention specific back-ends, especially if they are owned
> by Oracle, then it is well worth pointing out other names.  It's not about
> fanboyism, just about showing there are a wide range of choices - and that
> people might well already have a database (or even spreadsheet) that can be
> used without any export-import conversions.  It is VERY good to know that
> use of internal back-end can be externalised fairly easily without having
> to go through all the troubles Ian Whitfield went through.  On the other
> hand his move away from Java-based back-ends probably gave additional
> benefits!
>
>
> I definitely appreciate Andreas' posts in this thread!  He has cleared-up
> several mysteries by explaining the problems "under the bonnet".  It has
> also been good to see experienced and knowledgeable people giving anecdotal
> confirmation of Andreas' points.
>
> In answer to Jay's question there was some attempt to move to using
> "Firebird" rather than "HSqlDb" but i think that is still an "experimental
> feature" and that we now effectively have a choice of 2 internal back-ends
> neither of which work entirely as hoped for yet.  With Firebird it feels
> like it is "on the way" though.
> Regards from
> Tom :)
>
>
>
> On 2 March 2015 at 21:09, Andreas Säger <villeroy@t-online.de> wrote:
>
> > Am 02.03.2015 um 21:23 schrieb Tom Davies:
> > > Hi :)
> > > Apparently another great database program to use as a back-end is
> > > Postgresql.  Some of the Postgresql people worked with the LibreOffice
> > > people to make a really good connector and then got that connector into
> > > LibreOffice main trunk.
> > This is not a matter of partisanship, fanboyism nor objective evidence
> > of the better product. The important thing is that you are able to
> > connect to whatever you already have. The database of your online shop,
> > your business software, your accounting software, some dBase directory,
> > spreadsheets or csv files. The connectivity feature lets you use tabular
> > data without troublesome export/import.
> >
> > If all you have is an embedded HSQLDB, you can convert this to HSQL 2
> > within minutes. Conversion into Postrgre/MySQL/whatever would require
> > careful editing of SQL scripts, testing and possibly adjustment of
> > queries, forms, reports.
> >
> >
> >
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