BEYOND Q&A
  Q&A is the best database program I've ever seen. It's easy to 
learn, costs little, and includes a word processor. You can make 
Q&A perform many fancy tricks, by using the customize menu and 
macros. By choosing ``A - Assistant'' from the main menu, you can 
even teach Q&A to understand English, so you can type commands in 
ordinary English instead of using function keys. On a scale of 1 
to 10, Q&A deserves a 9 ___ and I haven't yet found a system that 
deserves a 10.
  Q&A has a few weak spots. If they bother you, explore Q&A's 
competitors instead. . . . 

               Reflex
  Reflex is a database program that lets you view the data in 
five ways: it lets you see a form view (a filled-in form showing 
a record), a list view (a large spreadsheet showing the entire 
file), a graph view (a graph of all the data), a report view (a 
report on the entire file, with subtotals), and a crosstab view 
(a table of totals for statisticians).
  Reflex can show you many views simultaneously, by dividing your 
screen into windows. As you edit the view in one window, the 
views in other windows change simultaneously. For example, if one 
window shows numbers and another window shows a graph, the graph 
changes automatically as you edit the numbers.
  Reflex is partly a database program and partly a spreadsheet. 
Many of Reflex's features were copied by Microsoft's spreadsheet, 
Excel.
  Reflex is published by Borland; but Borland has stopped 
bothering to market it anymore, because the competition from Q&A 
and other database programs is too fierce.

        Relational databases
  Reflex is a simple flat-file system, which means it manipulates 
just one file at a time. Q&A goes a step further: while you're 
editing a file, Q&A lets you insert information from a second 
file.
  Software that goes even further than Q&A and lets you edit two 
files simultaneously is called a relational database program (or 
relational database management system or relational DBMS). The 
most popular relational database programs for DOS are DBASE, 
FOXPRO, and Paradox. You can customize them to meet any need, 
because they include complete programming languages.
                                                   Windows wars
                                         Recently, programmers 
have been trying to invent database programs for Windows. Going 
beyond DOS programs such as Q&A, Windows database programs let 
the screen display pretty fonts and photographs.
                                         For example, Borland has 
invented a Windows version of Paradox and is developing a Windows 
version of DBASE. Microsoft has invented a Windows version of 
FOXPRO and a new Windows database program called Microsoft 
Access.
                                         The most popular 
database program for the Mac is Filemaker Pro. It's as easy as 
Q&A! It's published by Claris, which is owned by Apple. Recently, 
Claris has invented a Windows version of Filemaker Pro.
                                         To battle all those new 
competitors for the Windows database market, the first popular 
Windows database (Approach) has been improved.
                                         All those Windows 
database programs are excellent. Filemaker Pro and Approach are 
the easiest to learn but also the most limited. Microsoft Access 
can perform a greater variety of tasks but is harder to learn. 
The Windows versions of Paradox, DBASE, and FOXPRO can perform an 
even greater variety of tasks but are even harder to learn.