Girding for theClient/Server WarsôFoxPro is MicrosoftÆs database development tool.öù Dr. David Fulton, V.P. of Microsoft, at Fox DevCon, Oct. 13, 1993ôYou can buy Access or Visual Basic, but once you get these things deployed,the maintenance will kill you.öù Phil White, CEO, Informix, as quoted in Upside, pg. 53, June, 1993.I was impressed by three trends I observed during three VBITS Æ93 conferences our magazine co-hosted with Microsoft, and also during SeyboldÆs Windows Solutions conference. One trend isalready obvious to many: Visual Basic is slowly but surely moving from being the leading general-purpose programming language to a major protagonist in the client/server wars.Jim Fawcette, Publisher and EditorThe second trend is only recognized by a few leading MIS managers: MicrosoftÆs positioningof Visual C++ as the language for building components, and VB as the language for gluing thosecomponents together to build custom applications, is starting to fundamentally change the demandfor programmers. At a panel session I ran during SeyboldÆs Windows Solutions, I asked an MISmanager who is among the leaders in employing this strategy, ôDoes this mean youÆll hire 10 VBprogrammers for each C programmer?ö His response, ôAbsolutely.öThe third is that everything is merging. Because I look at the world through the lens ofpublishing, and I was the founder of DBMS magazine, the leading magazine for databasedevelopment, IÆm intrigued by the way once-clear delineations are now blurring. WhatÆs thedifference between a general-purpose language and a database development environment? Orfrom another perspective, if VC++ adds class hierarchies, custom controls, and programmingthrough reuse of OLE objects, does the pedal-to-the-metal handcrafting of every line, the raisondÆetre for C programmers, become as obsolete as the tight and fast 16-kilobyte machine-languageprograms that Dr. DobbÆs Journal extolled when it was a nonprofit publication with the tag line,ôRunning Light Without Overbyte?öAt Q&A sessions and panel discussions during VBITS Æ93 in Los Angeles and Boston, MISmanagers and consultants frequently commented on their struggles to choose between focusedclient/server tools such as GuptaÆs SQL Windows or PowersoftÆs Powerbuilder, and Visual Basic,NOTEthe only general-purpose tool with a serious presence in this category.VB is increasingly winning because it is more flexible, it can create excellent user interfaces,THE ULTIMATE COMPLIMENTand it is inexpensive. The latter belies the frequent argument that MIS managers donÆt care aboutruntime fees because PCs and PC software are so much less expensive than mainframe software.Every MIS manager I have talked to finds free runtime distribution to be a major asset of VB. OneFOR VB IS THE CRITICISMVAR who works with the United States Navy told me, ôThe Navy point-blank will not pay per-site fees.öIt is an open secret that Microsoft is considering the enhancement of VBÆs client/serverOF LARGER CLIENT/SERVERdevelopment capabilities as a major focus for its next release, 4.0. Already, the big boys are startingto quake. How else can you explain the quote atop this column by Phil White, CEO of Informix,the Avis to OracleÆs Hertz position in minicomputer DBMSs. Increasingly, these $250,000SOFTWARE VENDORS.DBMSs will be differentiated by their front-end tools, and teaching minicomputer companies todeal with user friendliness and programmer productivity is like the clichΘ about teaching anelephant to dance.This clash of PC and minicomputer cultures should be entertaining. YouÆll note, though, thatwhile the Informixes and Powersofts of the world pay VB the ultimate compliment by dumpingon it, they never mention dBase, FoxPro, or Paradox.If the implementation of the next version of VB is done well, it will cement the ultimate trendthat is important to our readers: VB has clearly become the language of choice for customapplication development, and because thatÆs where the bulk of software development is occurring,VB is both displacing C in one camp and threatening to unseat the combination of Xbase andspecialized, proprietary DBMS languages in another. Look for the number of classified ads andheadhuntersÆ calls to start reflecting this trend.But please, please, donÆt tell the other programming magazines. IÆd prefer they keep to theirreligious position that C is the only real programming language, that you really want to developclient/server OLE-enabled Windows applications in Xbase, and that VB is cute, for somethingderived from Basic. And then theyÆll settle down to write their annual issue on FORTH, Smalltalkand the definition of inheritance. LetÆs keep this our secret for a while longer <g>. nVisual Basic ProgrammerÆs Journal FEBRUARY/MARCH 1994 5
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