DBase

dBASE is a database management system developed by Ashton-Tate.

History

A CP/M database system introduced in 1980 as dBASE II and was quickly ported to most common 8-bit platforms. It was ported to DOS in 1982 and later to OS/2 and MS Windows and became an industry standard in the early to mid 80s and the basis of the xBase language, but declined rapidly in the 90s when it could not keep up with the competition. In 1991 Ashton-Tate was sold to Borland International.

Editor support

• Boxer - dBase support included by default

Versions

dBASE II

• 1982: 2.35
• 1983: 2.40
• 1983: 2.41
• 1983: 2.43

dBASE III

• 1.0 (Jun 1984) - Rewritten in C, much improved functionality but much slower than the assembly coded dBase II.
• 1.1 (1985)

dBASE III Plus

• 1.0 (1985)
• 1.1 (1986) - Menu system a la Condor Database

dBASE IV

• 1988: 1.0
• 1990: 1.1
• 1992: 1.5
• 1993: 2.0

• 1994 - dBASE 5.0 for DOS
• 2013 - dBASE Classic - Re-release of dBASE 5.0

Macintosh

• 1987: dBASE Mac

Windows

• 1994: Borland dBASE 5.0 for Windows
• 1995: Borland Visual dBASE 5.5
• 1997: Borland Visual dBASE 7
• 2013 - dBase Plus 8, 8.1
• 2014 - dBase Plus 9.1, 9.2, 9.5
• 2015 - dBase Plus 10, 10.1, 10.2

License and availability

• Commercial - OS/2 version discontinued - DOS version still sold and supported under the name dBase Classic - MS Windows version still developed.
• Author:
  • C. Wayne Ratliff (Original CP/M port) Ashton-Tate
  • Borland
  • KSoft
  • dBase LLC

Links

• dBase LLC - Current owners of the dBase codebase.
• The dBASE Developers Bulletin