Alpha has done an amazing thing with their new Version 5.0.  They have increased the ease of use in many ways while also attending to some of the fundamental design improvements for the database.  The result is a product that is more capable while also being easier to use.  This is the reverse of the "featuritis" present when software only seems to have a new feature list and no fundamental improvements.

For beginning users who have a tough time working with indexes and filters, Version 5 shows you the calculations while you work.  By providing many little services and genies like this all thrugh Alha Five, the program makes the learning and design process run much faster.  

For lower level programming, version 5 adds such things as new variable definitions and ways to interact with users.  Since more objects are now written in Xbasic, you now have more programming control over them as well.  The script recorder is hugely productive and can show both new coders and old hands how to work with Xbasic.

With the ability to automatically send and retrieve email directly to the database, version 5 will likely tickle the imaginations at many companies who are trying to manage remote data-entry at small remote sites given modest budgets.  Version 5 also prints in PDF and HTML formats so reports are much more mail- and web-portable than before.

David Sander
a5dave@aol.com