General Automation Inc has a Windows NT and 95 database based on the MV MultiValue architecture used in Pick Systems Inc databases, in the hope of converting Pick devotees to NT and winning new converts to the Pick architecture. MV is about all that remains of the Pick Operating System which never attracted a wide audience, but an ardent cult following. General Automation’s mv.Base database is based on the Irvine, California firm’s Mentor database, which General Automation claims is used by more than 500,000 users. Besides its database functions, which are built around Pick’s unique way of handling data that may contain multiple variables – say a phone number field that stores multiple numbers for a single person like his office, home, cell phone and pager – mv.Base includes a suite of development tools. A Basic interpreter and compiler comes with extensions for Windows interoperability commands. The programming interfaces included with mv.Base work with C, C++ and Vi! sual Basic and there’s a packet of debugging tools. Liberty/ODBC, a companion program from General Automation’s Liberty Integration Software adds Object DataBase Connectivity. Pricing starts at $450 for a single mv.Base basic kit plus $350 for additional users. The VB, C and C++ tools are another $100. An mv.Base and Liberty/ODBC bundle is $1,200 plus $375 per extra user, a discount from the $2,380 list price of Liberty/ODBC by itself.
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