I've been using Alpha Software products since the early days of Alpha 4. Alpha 5 Version 5 is the latest (and some might say the greatest) release from the company. I have been one of the long term holdouts continually proclaiming my preference for the DOS-based Alpha Four. However, reality is that DOS will be a thing of the past, if it isn't already and along with it, all DOS-based products. That fact leaves me with two choices: quit and go home, or admit that DOS is dead and accept Alpha 5 Version 5 as my database development product of choice. Okay, DOS is dead - now let's get on with it.

There is a slight terminology 'hurdle' (an Alpha 4 database is an Alpha 5 table, an application is now a database) that needs to be overcome, but once you get past the learning curve, Alpha 5 Version 5 is a dream product to work with. It directly reads all .dbf files with no conversion needed whatsoever which means that data re-entry is a non-issue. Recreating the menus, forms, reports, buttons, etc. is the easy part of the conversion. Macros, as we knew them in A4, are a thing of the past and have been replaced with a combination of Xbasic (Alpha 5's native language) and Action Scripting (Alpha's new way of automating an application and customizing its behavior). An Action Script can be as simple, or as complex, as you want it to be. In actual fact, an Action Script is a front end to Xbasic that lets the user/developer write Xbasic code without realizing it.

Using Alpha 5 Version 5 beta from build 954 through build 1215 (as of this writing), I have been fascinated watching the product mature from its (relative) infancy to its current state of development. I can't imagine what else can be added to the product, but it keeps getting better and better.

I'm in the process of converting one of my major applications from Alpha 4 Version 6 to Alpha 5 Version 5 and it is an experience! When I wear my college professor hat, I teach Visual Basic, Access and Web Development and Design courses amongst others. When I switch to my software development hat, nothing is as much fun as using Alpha Five to create an application that satisfies a customer's needs and wants. It keeps my brain working and allows me to continually expand and apply what I know (or think I know) about database development and design. Every application that I have developed has, at the same time, been easier, in terms of the knowledge I bring to the process and more difficult, in terms of reapplying that knowledge in new ways.

If I sound like I enjoy working with Alpha 5, the answer is 'Yes'! If I sound like I think Alpha 5 is a great product, the answer is 'Yes'! If I sound like I think Alpha 5 beats Access and VB hands down as a development tool, the answer is 'Yes', 'Yes', and 'Yes' again!

Should you consider Alpha 5 as your development platform? What do you think?