Meadowlark: Sheffield based computer consultancy

Software development tools we use:

IBM Lotus Approach Database

Lotus Approach (now owned by IBM) is a comparatively simple database development tool that was intended - along with its Smartsuite siblings (123, Freelance, Wordpro, Organizer) - to compete with the formidable Office suite of similar offerings from Microsoft.

Some would argue that the IBM lineup was not as fully featured, comprehensive, or popular. The latter at least was certainly true, though I have for example always favoured Lotus Wordpro over Microsoft Word. In fact Lotus Approach has some advantages over Microsoft Access that has lead us to favour it for developing some database applications.

Why are we Lotus Approach Developers?

Customers need databases. A carefully designed database takes time to develop, and time is money. If I, as a developer have a customer to deliver on Monday and four days to deliver it. I will probably not use Access, though we have years of experience of using this heavyweight desktop development tool.

There is something about Approach that lends itself to swift, needs-focused development. Something that facilitates the development process instead of handicapping it. The developer can focus on delivery and dismiss the endless "how do I do achieve that end result" dilemma. This has important implications for the end result.

Lotus Approach has a number of advantages:

1. It is usually an exceptionally easy to database application.
2. It is well integrated with the popular Smartsuite applications.
3. It is familiar to generations of PC users.
4. It is cheap to buy compared with the ridiculously priced Office suite
5. It can run on PC's that are of low specification.
6. It lends itself to the delivery of low cost, but potentially high quality applications.
7. It is ideal for providing quick, and easy to use front-end applications that access heavyweight database servers.

What can Approach do that Access cannot?

Try producing a report in Access where clicking on a report field changes that report in some way.

In Lotus Approach even a novice developer can produce a macro that provides the required function when the field is entered.

 

What you can expect from computer hardware in the future?

1. Smaller faster, cheaper, lighter computers for the desktop.  They will be no larger than a DVD drive.  They will be silent, and run free software, and much of this will be web based.  They will use solid state disks, and large quantities of cheap memory.

2. More powerful mobile phones will largely replace traditional PCs.  The screens of mobiles will occupy as much of the phone as physicallly possible.  "Soft buttons will have largely replaced mechanical buttons in top of the range phones.

3. Sophisticated screen display technology will be available that will allow us to use bigger computer monitors in smaller less likely workplaces.

4. Micro-factories: places of work no bigger than a loft extension, where budding entrepreneurs labour in their free time "printing" products with 3D printers and selling their wares by the internet.