In Stage I, as I've described in various newsletters and E-Mails, we will replace the reliable but elderly Btrieve 6.15 with Pervasive PSL V10. It also represents our first Software as a Service (SaaS) offering.
It is an awesome upgrade.
We will ship the new version out slowly at first, to single-user installations, and then gradually increase the pace as we become more comfortable supporting the conversion process.
The conversion process does require that you have applied RPMS Version 7.9.10 or greater, available as of September 2009. If you're not up to that version, you'll have to go to the most recent V7 first, then apply the V8 upgrade.
Conversions are always interesting, and can be somewhat painful. We've gone through three major file system conversions over the years.
- In 2005 we did a massive conversion for former RK Systems users to RPMS
- In 2001 we moved our entire installation base from RPMS Versions 5 and 6 to RPMS Version 7
- In 1988 we moved from Realia Cobol indexed files to Btrieve files as we migrated from RPMS Version 1 to Version 2.
We did many file utilities, fix-ups, patches, and file or index additions during those times to the database. For the most part those were fairly painless.
The other major version changes to RPMS generally left the underlying file structures in place - it was just a matter of replacing a dated interface or adding new capabilities or systems. Here's the history of our major updates, as best I can remember and/or piece together:
- RPMS Version 1 - First shipped in 1984 for PC DOS and MS DOS versions 2 or higher. This system had a black and white full screen character driven menu interface. It was largely based on what our service bureau operators used with their Singer mini computer.
- RPMS Version 2 - 1987 - We added order management and orange color boundaries to the black screens because now we could reference VGA! I guess we liked Halloween or something.
- RPMS Version 3 - This was our conversion to Btrieve sometime in 1988, and represented our first multi-user capable system. It was the worst and most painful conversion ever, according to the technicians, but by golly, two users could be in the system at the same time. The war with Unix for the PC desktop turned in favor of DOS.
- RPMS Version 4 - Sometime in late 1989 or early 1990 we changed to a single file handling system. It was a big deal because it gave us more room internally to do some things within the 640K limit that DOS imposed. I remember that we could print in more places than before, because we had the memory to call the programs.
- RPMS Version 5 - In 1992 we went to blue screens with drop down menus, completely replacing the old menu number interface with a more modern DOS look. I hand-designed all the forms on 80x25 character block paper. Sheets and sheets of it. We made users learn where the ALT key was. The drop down menus had drop-shadows. It was 3D. Sort of. But they looked pretty cool for DOS.
- RPMS Version 6 - This was our first Windows version that shipped in 1996, and required Windows 95. We wrote it with Visual Realia, a now defunct variant of Basic, because it played nicely with Realia Cobol. Unfortunately, VR was owned by Computer Associates. They didn't play nicely with anyone.
- RPMS Version 7 - First shipped in 2001, this was a ground-up rewrite with an all new interface and all new database. It took a long time, but was worth it - very stable and very easy to support.
- RPMS Version 8 - Shipping now for single users, and in the weeks ahead for all users.
Sorry for the trip down memory lane, but I'd been meaning to write it down somewhere anyway, and the occasion of Version 8 seemed as good a reason as any.
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