Dateline October 16 – Austin
It’s been a busy few months since Zippy and I last sat down to the keyboard. We’re all getting ready for the release of Windows 7 on Oct 22 – specifically Pervasive is releasing PSQL v10 SP3 which is already compatible with Windows 7. Yep, we’re that fast. If you’re a long time watcher of Pervasive product releases you know that we’re typically very close behind the major platform changes. With PSQL v10 SP3 though, Engineering has really outdone itself. We did a lot of work around Vista compatibility and it paid off for Windows 7. Expect to see a release candidate very soon, and if all goes well, the finished product will be available for download shortly afterwards.
Another important feature of PSQL v10 SP3 is the addition of product activation to the shrink wrap products – everything that’s sold through ISV’s and Distributors. Product activation is just an improved way of making sure that the copy of PSQL you get is valid. The longer definition would be a key validation process that verifies the copy of software is legitimate, correctly licensed and on the appropriate hardware and software platform. We’ve written about it before, and if you’ve downloaded a trial or bought anything at the Pervasive e-store, you’ve seen product activation. Pervasive Engineering has done another fine job making the change nearly invisible. The biggest difference is that activating a key on PSQL now requires an Internet connection – and in this day and age, very few computer users don’t have an Internet connection. And, for those rare few who don’t have Internet connections, there are a couple of ways to handle activation. Check out this month’s newsletter for a whitepaper telling you everything you need to know about product activation.
Next amazing thing – a brand new book – The SQL Guide to Pervasive PSQL by Rick F. van der Lans. It’s awesome – 643 page of everything (I really mean *everything*) you could ever want to know about SQL for Pervasive PSQL. Mr. van der Lans is a SQL uber guru, having written the Introduction to SQL almost 20 years ago (now in its 4th edition – a LOT of people learned SQL from this book) as well as books on SQL for Ingres, MySQL, and SQLite. If you’re a Pervasive PSQL developer (and who else would be reading this blog?), you need a copy of this book. It’s available now at http://www.lulu.com and will be on Amazon soon. Just to get some perspective about how momentous this is – guess when the last Pervasive PSQL book was published? Ready? 1995 – Btrieve Complete by Jim Kyle (also an awesome book). This stuff doesn’t happen every day – order Rick’s book now.
Corporate News – Pervasive acquires ChanneLinx, a web based business exchange automation software company. Translation – ChannelLinx (now Pervasive Business Xchange) enables e-commerce, documentation, electronic information, etc. between business partners. If you’re a small to mid-sized business and have requirements from partners to eliminate paper in your transactions, check out http://www.channelinx.com/index.html. They’ve got the tools, consulting and experience to set up the whole thing for you. And, a great added bonus – getting rid of all that paper makes your company a whole lot more green.
Stay tuned – lots more to come.