Concept Omega Corp of Somerset, New Jersey is making a push towards the European market with a a networked MS-DOS version of its Idol-IV fourth generation language. The company currently derives 30% of its $14m turnover from Europe and believes that this will grow up to 50% in the next two or three years. The reason for its optimism stems from its analysis of software houses which divides them into those with a penchant for servers – database management systems and local area networks, and those whose speciality are client-based, offering fourth generation languages, report generators, screen generators and so on. To Concept Omega’s eyes, server-oriented houses such as Oracle Corp, Informix Software Inc, Ashton-Tate Corp and Sybase Inc are opening up their database management systems for products by client-based houses, since, according to Concept Omega, these high-end companies are having difficulties satisfying their users’ fourth generation language requirements. In fact Concept Omega has no interest in mainframes, and has been active in the DEC VAX and Unix systems market for some while. What it is excited about at the moment is the growing MS-DOS demand for applications that can be ported across hardware and operating systems. VAX, Unix or MS-DOS
For, funnily enough, it just so happens that a developer using Idol IV can write applications and port them to VAX, Unix or MS-DOS kit without changing the applicat-ion code. Furthermore, Idol IV can be used to develop an application on a single-user MS-DOS machine which can then be moved to a 2,000-user VAX system. This is because the new version of Idol-IV is compatible with the proprietary third generation language Thoroughbred Basic, as well as with multi-user systems running under Unix, Xenix, Ultrix and VMS. Consequently, Idol IV can be used in stand-alone, multi-user and networked environments. As with similar software products, the marketing stance is that they reduce the time a company takes to get its applications to market (especially when moving from MS-DOS to Unix), that they give developers more design time, and that they enable non-technical industry designers to be drafted in. Concept Omega clearly believes that SQL has a role to play in MS-DOS development, since it has also added SQL facilities to its Idol-IV module. Called Query IV, it is Concept’s implementation of standard SQL and has a menu-cursor driven end-user interface to enable inexperienced SQL users to build up SQL constructs. Concept Omega’s products are available in the UK through Romford, Essex-based Professional Computer Solutions and its dealer network. Idol IV is priced at UKP495 for a single user copy, UKP1,295 for a network version and UKP1,245 for a full development licence for multi-user configurations. And, versions of Idol IV (which uses natural language) are available in French, Spanish and German, as well as in English.
