The release of Version 5 is exciting because it promises to be a watershed event that will bring wonderful flexibility and power within easy reach of computing enthusiasts everywhere. If you are frustrated at the limitations of your existing 'canned solutions', or if you want to be able to create your own multi-user network-ready database applications within a Windows operating environment, pay attention. Alpha Five, Version 5, was built with you in mind.

While working with the Beta release it quickly became apparent to me that the publisher's years and years of experience in this market have not gone to waste. Alpha Software Corporation seems to truly understand what you and I need in order to build reliable, easy to maintain, database applications for our offices, schools, or churches. Within the application, everywhere you turn, care has been given to large and small features alike, to make them work better and more easily. Feature after feature have been added in order to empower the end-user. At last it's feasible to build complete customized Windows database applications using a point and click, menu driven, development environment.

If you have already tried to build these kinds of databases with other products, I urge you take a good look at Version 5. The actual scripting language that was used throughout the product to make life easier for 'beginners' is available to you so that you can push your design even farther if you wish. Understandably, this will require learning something about the syntax and commands of Version 5's Xbasic scripting language. However, when you begin getting familiar with it you will be impressed with how robust and complete the language has become. You can control the complete data entry process through scripts which address the controls on your forms, and you can also directly manipulate the tables and sets of your database underneath your forms whenever you want or need to. Because of the richness of the end-user assistance that is already built in, Version 5 has become a very rapid development environment. But if you want to change something to suit yourself, you're not locked in. The scripting language makes it easily possible for you to customize your system even further. When you do so I'm confident you'll soon agree with me when I say that Version 5 has 'long legs'. It won't run out of gas on you when you reach the limits of what the built-in functionality provides. Instead, it delivers a complete array of tools, functions, and methods which you can use yourself to craft your own, unique, solution when that's necessary or desired. Yes, in Version 5 end-user 'ease of use' features are married to 'professional' development tools. It's a wonderful match!