As reported (CI No 2,254), Borland International Inc unveiled its first workgroup enabled spreadsheets and databases last week in the form of Quattro Pro 5.0 Workgroup Edition and Paradox 4.5 Workgroup Edition. In practice this means that both packages become mail-enabled and get support for hot-links through new ‘publish’ and ‘subscribe’ functions, so changes to one spreadsheet or database can be automatically picked up across the network. The workgroup editions also have the ability to maintain dynamic links with remote SQL databases. Publish and subscribe are old hat these days, however the Borland implementation does look rather friendly, with its support for a variety of electronic mail transport types: NetWare MHS, cc:Mail and MAPI support is in there from the start and the company says it will add support for WordPerfect Office, Apple Computer Inc’s PowerShare collaboration environment and Lotus Notes soon.
Publish and subscribe
Most innovative is a joint development with MCI Communications Corp to enable the publish and subscribe links to be maintained over the wide area – the package can be set up to dial the electronic mail service at regular intervals. The idea of being able to maintain multiple hot-links regardless of location is attractive, but Borland still has to iron out a few wrinkles here. In particular there is no way to signal to the system that a particular user has moved from being local network-connected to being MCI-connected. The user sending the data needs to indicate explicitly whether information is to be sent to Tom on the local net or Tom on MCI. That’s OK when only a few publish-subscribe links are being maintained, but Borland is aiming at corporates with potentially hundreds of users, geographically dispersed. The suggested remedy is to copy the messages to both places. The workgroup implementations are based on OBEX – Borland’s new Object Exchange ‘middleware’ – the result of three years of development in its Paris facility. The part the user sees is the new Workgroup Desktop interface, yet another icon bar, designed to manage all of these incoming and out-going messages. OBEX is being positioned as open and a Workgroup Enabling Kit is set to be released for adding workgroup functionality to existing and future applications, this is not a task for the user however; it is a tool for developers, which raises the question of who will be OBEX-enabling these applications. Wordperfect Corp is already on board, but other answers from Borland’s UK representatives were vague except for a promise that they would be working with third parties. For real application developers there is the Paradox 4.5 Development Edition for Windows, which builds on the Workgroup edition adding tools for those wanting to build scalable personal computer-based enterprise-wide client-server applications. Additions to the standard offering include a built-in compiler, graphical debugger, visual design tools, SQL tools and source code. Superficially the Borland and Microsoft Corp approach to workgroup-enabling look similar, but where Microsoft’s strategy uses ‘templates’ to glue together existing applications (launching mail from within Microsoft Word, for example), Borland makes much play of the fact that its groupware stuff is embedded deep in the applications themselves. In a sense, the two approaches gives a clue as to the way in which the new object-dominated world of personal computer software may go – Microsoft makes the building blocks explicit for users to tinker with – Borland keeps them tucked away for its own benefit. Quattro Pro 5.0 Workgroup Edition is available now at a suggested retail price is $495 (UKP299.95); users of Lotus 1-2-3 or Excel get it for $100 (UKP100). Quattro Pro customers can upgrade for $80 (UKP65.00). Paradox 4.5 Workgroup Edition is set to ship within 30 days at $500 (UKP330); $150 (UKP130) for those with products from competitors and $130 (UKP80) for existing Paradox for Windows customers.
