Pervasive

September 2008 - Posts

• Why We Love Mac OS X - Part Deux

  Dateline September 30 - Austin As promised, here's Zippy's translation of the Info Week Article.  Keep in mind, he's a slow typist (I had to spend a lot of time correcting errors.) and his concept of "timely" varies - typical dog, always chasing butterflies or chewing through a pair of really comfortable shoes instead of meeting deadlines.  For a more professional commentary on the Abacus deal - check out the Pervasive Press release. Abacus Research ERP Software for Apple Abacus discovers the Apple market, both server and client side as well as the iPhone. The Swiss business application vendor Abacus Research today announced that the 2009 version of its ERP software will work in a pure Apple environment (availability scheduled for Fall 2009). In addition to a server side OS X version, Abacus adapted 450 modules of their ERP suite for Mac on the desktop. Close collaboration between Abacus and Pervasive Software resulted in PSQL being brought to the Mac OS X server, and the desktop modules were easily moved to the Mac because they were originally written in Java. According to Abacus CEO Claudio Hintermann, this step towards Apple brings Abacus customers more freedom of choice – now they can choose between Windows, Linux, and Mac platforms.  With this move, Abacus is reacting to changing markets and customer demand.  The Mac version clearly provides an advantage when attacking the neighboring German market, since there’s definitely a lack of good ERP software on the Mac platform.   Posted Sep 30 2008, 03:41 PM by answerman with 1 comment(s)

• Why We Love Macs and OS X

  Dateline Sep 18, 2008 – Somewhere in Switzerland Who doesn’t have a soft spot in their heart for a Mac? It’s the easiest to use, slickest designed, loved by right brained people everywhere computer. Nothing like the market share of Windows, but Macs (and Apple) do have their niches, and Apple continues to come up with industry making products and just plain gorgeous industrial design. Why, you wonder, am I yammering on about Mac’s when Pervasive is a dedicated Windows database company?  It’s because last week I saw PSQL v10 running on a MacBook Air.  No kidding.  And not just running in a parallel Windows environment – running native on OS X.  Very, very cool.  It’s a miracle you say?  Nope.  Just an innovative Pervasive customer taking advantage of the fact that there’s already a Linux version of PSQL, and a responsive Pervasive management and engineering team that was more than happy to port a version of PSQL from Linux to Mac OS X.  Since Mac OS X is based on Unix (and derived from BSD), most software written for BSD or Linux can be recompiled to run on Mac OS X.  I’m not crazy enough to say something like “simple recompile” (which in my book rates up there with “the check’s in the mail” and “we’re from the government and we’re here to help”), but the basics were there. We got the request from Abacus Research AG, a long time partner and ERP applications vendor in St. Gallen, Switzerland.  They’ve been a tremendous success in the SMB ERP arena and were looking to expand their market to include customers like architects, designers, media firms – in other words, creative people – businesses that typically use nothing but Macs.  Abacus saw a lot of unmet demand for good business applications in Mac only shops and approached Pervasive for help.  The cool thing about working with a database company smaller than say, Oracle or some division of Sun Microsystems, is that it doesn’t take long to get in touch with people who can really make decisions and take action. So Abacus had a chat with Gilbert van Cutsem – the database division general manager – about putting PSQL on Mac OS X. Gilbert had a discussion with the Engineering team, and it was off to the races. Pervasive Engineering got the work done in less than a month.  Now Abacus has a brand new market it can sell to, and we’ve got a happy OEM customer.   Check out their press release at: http://www.abacus.ch/unternehmen/news/news/article/508/2/.  I’ll post a Zippy-translated version of an InfoWeek article as soon as he gets done typing. (He’s got some German Sheperd somewhere in his past, so the translation is mostly ok, but his typing is atrocious.) Is Pervasive going to ship a Mac OS X version of PSQL?  Too early to tell.  But – if your business might benefit from expanding your market into Mac only shops, give us a call. We’d love to hear from you and we can probably help.   Check out Pervasive PSQL on Mac OS X for more information. Besides, if it gets me and Zippy to places like St. Gallen in the summer (and out of the Texas heat), we’re all for it. p.s. Guess what Zippy’s favorite new breakfast snack is?  Mac and……Swiss.  I know, I know – it’s cheesy.  Blame the dog.   Posted Sep 23 2008, 09:06 AM by answerman with 1 comment(s)

• The Pervasive Answerman is Here

  Dateline September 16 – Austin, Texas Hello and welcome to the first of many blogs from me, the Pervasive Answerman – and my faithful sidekick, Zippy the Pervasive Answerdog. That's us in the picture on the right. What am I about? Pervasive hired me to keep you, dear customer, informed and up to date on any number of topics – everything you need to know about the PSQL database, related products like AuditMaster, Backup Agent, DataExchange, important news at Pervasive and to answer the occasional random (but often considered) questions from readers like “Why is the sky blue?” or “What should I have for lunch?”.  Plus, Zippy is going to chime in, when he's in the mood, to keep you up to speed with why dogs are fashionable (and not just tail wagging eating machines). It’s all about learning useful things and being entertained along the way. If you haven’t been to our site yet, go check it out at http://www.pervasiveanswerman.com.  Zippy and I spent a lot of time answering some key questions about Pervasive and otherwise unlocking the secrets of the universe. Do it today. You’re going to learn something important.  Really. Here’s the deal: As long as readers continue to ask questions, I’ll have the answers – my tested IQ is high enough to make the average Mensa member look like a well trained chimp – and, more importantly, Pervasive will keep sending those checks and Zippy gets to keep eating.  So, visit the site, send me a question or two, and keep the dog from a life of crime.   Posted Sep 16 2008, 04:24 PM by answerman with no comments