Talk:Paradox (database)

Corel
Did Corel ever own Paradox? Josh Parris # 00:19, 17 October 2005 (UTC)

From all discussions seen by an outsider, including some nonprivileged information given by both Borland- and then-Corel personnel, Corel never owned Paradox, but only an essentially unlimited distribution and adaptation license to it. The USPTO lists associated trademarks as belonging to Borland.

Paradox 4.5 memory restrictions
Does anybody remember the string after the paradox.exe that told Paradox 4.5 to ignore memory over 256? E-mail srogers2@msn.com — Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.4.162.106 (talk) 2005-11-27T07:52:50 (UTC)

Origins of the name Paradox?
Why would anyone name a software product Paradox?

If their marketing consultants suggested it as a good brand. Frelke 20:42, 26 October 2006 (UTC)


 * IIRC, the user manual opened with lyrics from "The Pirates Of Penzance":
 * Ruth (laughing)--
 * A paradox,
 * A most ingenious paradox!
 * We’ve quips and quibbles heard in flocks,
 * But none to beat this paradox!


 * All--
 * A paradox, a paradox,
 * A most ingenious paradox.
 * Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha,
 * This paradox.


 * The introductory text that followed seemed to suggest that the "paradox" of the product was that such a "powerful" desktop database product could be so "easy to use". It is highly debatable that the product was "easy to use", and irrespective of the cute reference to the operetta, the conventional definition of the word paradox (i.e., any person, thing, or situation exhibiting an apparently contradictory nature) could easily be interpreted more pejoratively.


 * The DOS version was easy to use and powerful by the standards of the day. It was my first database and I learned it in half an hour and got a job doing it full-time the next day.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.171.176.102 (talk) 19:41, 26 December 2010 (UTC)


 * Undoubtedly the result of employing an English or Drama undergraduate in a marketing role. Not intended as an insult to English or Drama majors, but a reference to Pirates Of Penzance was probably not the best way to reach their target market.  DeMongo 20:44, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

[Actually, the name Paradox was conceived by Benjamin Rosen who served as Chairman of the Board, and whose firm, Sevin Rosen, financed the company. The name is a pun, referring to the fact that the two founders, Richard Schwartz and myself (Rob Shostak) are both Ph.D.'s in Computer Science. The quote from Pirates of Penzance was the idea of John Zussman, who wrote the original documentation. RES]


 * Wow. That's even worse than the notion that it came from an operetta.DeMongo (talk) 17:37, 9 May 2009 (UTC)
 * In fact, the thing remains easy to use. And Pdoxdos is breathtakingly easy to use once your mouse breaks down (though you can use your mouse while you have it)...--84.154.31.132 (talk) 17:28, 17 March 2016 (UTC)

Inaccuracies
This article contains some inaccuracies (unfortunately I don't have time to edit it).

First off, Word Perfect never aquired Paradox or any other Borland product that I'm aware of. Rather Word Perfect simply had a marketing / bundling deal with Borland that allowed the inclusion of Paradox and Quatro Pro in the Word Perfect Office. Likewise Borland bundled Word Perfect and Presentations in the Borland Office Suite. (In hind site, this seems confusing - two different suites with the same products - maybe I'm forgetting something.)

Corel did aquire Paradox in 1996, but just the product and source code (I don't know the details of the contract around IP - sorry). The people working on Paradox either found other jobs inside Borland or left the company.

131.107.0.107 (talk) 15:45, 17 July 2008 (UTC) David Berg Paradox DOS 4.0 Application Workshop, Paradox 4.5 R&D, Paradox Windows 5, 7, and 8 R&D (there was no 6).

-Wordperfect was purchased by Novell, should be noted. Wordperfect Office that we sold had Quatro Pro (Borland). Novell Perfect Office for Windows 3.1 had Paradox (licensed by Novell). Mention competing Lotus Office database product, Approach. Novell tanked and sold WP et al to Corel in ????. -Shjacks45 (talk) 09:02, 11 August 2009 (UTC)

A Couple More Additions
Ansa Corporation was supposed named after the Answer table methodology of Paradox, if you pronounce Answer with a bit of Southern 'twang. :)

PAL was a very powerful language in its time in that you can record the keyboard actions into a script (*.sc), then edit the script in the internal editor, or even export to external editor. Once editing is done, run it once and it will be "compiled" (*.sc2) which helps its speed. It also has a full debugger in that you can stop the action and step through line-by-line through the script one command at a time to trace the problem.

Reports in PAL, along with forms, are "bound" to specific tables with "family" relation files (*.FAM). You can substitute a different table to the form or report, but they must match nearly exactly, else you will have to confirm each and every field change.

As PAL are designed for DOS, reports are assumed to be using Courier or similar fixed-pitch font. While laser printers are supported, one must enter specific config codes. One can also embed config codes in the report itself for special circumstances, like skipping lines, special logos, and so on.

While Paradox for Windows version changed, internally the program has changed only cosmetically since Paradox 9.

--Kschang77 (talk) 03:11, 28 March 2009 (UTC)

Retooling
Article mentions a retooling for version 4, but doesn't mention what was used before (up to 3.5). Does sb remember? 88.159.77.240 (talk) 08:24, 5 May 2017 (UTC)