Since July there should be a new Version of Brilliant Database.
Postponed many times it is more or less a candidate for the Vaporware Award (like Duke Nukem Forever)...

Let's look for an alternative, just for the worst case it would never come and - if it would come - how reliable is the Manufacturer after approx. 6 Month delay and not responding to emails...

What kind of alternatives - free, open source, commerial - would be recommended as replacement of Brilliant Database???

Any suggestions, hints, ideas, whatever from the current/past users?

Alternatives should be ...
... able to compile an application
... able to work with large databases (over 4 GB Size)
... able to work Client/Server; Multiuser
... easy to develop/maintain. Developing time is expensive, so let it keep small
... "all in one", meaning Developing Tool and database Server or included connections to other database Servers like Postgres or MSSQL


Here are some of my ideas:

Visual Fox Pro - obsoleted, limited support until 2015
Access - Personal I don't like it. Not sure if it can compile for Multiuser environements and large DBs (over 4 GB size)
Kexi Database - Open Source, mostly developed for Linux
Filemaker - expensive for Multiuser environements
Glom Database - Open Source, mostly developed for Linux
4th Dimension - Complex and runtime licences cost extra

Glom + Kexi: My latest information is that they can not compile an application. So it can not be used for selling database Applications....

(and if the Manufacturer monitors this Forum it could give him a push to forward the development)

Access strictly speakign is not a db
its a user interface / RAD environment
there are no limits on data storage (depending on what storage mechanism you use). Palkin Vanilla Access, or strictly speaking Access/JET has a 2gb limit (according to Microsoft. connect an Access User interface to a server backend and its limited by that server.
it can be distributed effectively as an executable (using the free Runtime Environment, free since A2007)
It can be used in a multi user environment, but it does need careful thought before starting to design an application

there are other competing properties out there
such as SQLLite
such as web based contenders running on, say, and Apache server connecting to a MysQL or similar backend. thiose contenders include all manner of scripting languages such as PHP, Ruby and so on

Access:
Have seen some applications. They are slow and need more resources as BDB.
(Applications have been made by a large company, so I don't think that the don't know how to write fast software)
Another reason why I do not like Access is that I have got reports from my customers that the are running into problems (I do not know which) when they use many applications which are using different runtime versions of Access on the same Workstation.

SQLLite:
Need a compiler too, because it is not a RAD.
Which compiler makes fast c++ applications? Visual Studio is not my favored RAD and Embarcadero/Codegear/Borland - I don't know how their support is now after these name changings/company selling.

Web, Apache, etc.:
My customers don't like Web Applications. I do not know why, but they don't like/want them.

MySQL:
I have got from Oracle 3 different information about licencing for closed source applications. Should I give my customers a database engine where the Manufacturer has no clear information about licencing?

PostgreSQL is really free and additional has a lot more SQL features than MySQL (you can't "embedd" into an application though)

(this is of course not an answer to your original question)

But also a helpfull information...

Thank you.

The thoughts of even considering an alternative don't sit well with me as it's such a great progarm. Tomorrow is the “Big Day” yet again. It's almost a joke at this stage.

I accept someone can get a launch date wrong and might need to expend it a little. But 8 or more dates over the space of half a year. How can anyone be that clueless to how much work they have left to do.

We will see. Might have no choice but to buy File Maker yet.

Regards
James

I tried filemaker but still the BDB is the best in all the ways.The user friendlyness of the BDB is un comparable.

Totally agree 100%

Brilliant Binary is mostly only Mikhail.
He lives in Moscow and the company letterbox is in Vancouver, Canada.
This and the delays of Version 10 are my thoughts...

Additonal, in the past he has released Release Candidate before he has released a new version, to get error responses and "last wishes" for the final corrections. Why not for release 10?

Maybe something else as Filemaker would be good.
My last testing has shown that it is more worse to protect a Filemaker application. A Client/Server application has had by my last testing no protection to hide and protect the programming structure. A customer could make some changing on the programming.
Maybe something has been changed since Version 8 or I have got wrong information from the seller, but who knows?

If nothing will come, we should consider an alternative.
I have at least 2 customers who need a database greater 4 GB, so I can't use the current version for them any more. On the other side what can we tell our customers, why a new version with support of larger database size is postponed again?

It could have a bad effect for us when customers start thinking like "when they know the Manufacturer of the Database has a problem, why they don't move away to an alternative which has an available support?"

My final plan, if Mikhail releases a Version 10, is that I will wait for at least 6 Months to see how much error corrections he will release. I don't think that the first Version 10 release would be a stable release we can use for our customers. Any other opinions?

btw. anybody how has had contact to Mikhail in the last 12 months? Me not. No answers at all.

The way I see it is 6 months ago he posted a release date which was about 2 weeks. So me made the decision then that one man would take two more weeks to complete the work and get it online for all this customers to buy.

So how does 2 weeks work for one man become 26+ Weeks. Plus, what with ignoring emails.

Wonder what he's cooking.

Here's a horrible thought.
Maybe because it doesn't exist just like the fact that the domyapp website doesn’t have any working function. Try it, it does nothing for me.

I would be happy to pay very quickly after it's release, but I would not stop using v9 for a while. The change from v9 to v10 for me will be gradual.

Nope... sent 3 messages, no reply to any of them.

Regards
James

Just sent a direct email this time bypassing the form.

Hope he's ok.

Regards
James

After this much delay and no responses to any attempts to contact, this is surely a possibility.

If there is nothing wrong now, there might well be in the future.

Personally, i would not risk my ability to develop/deploy, my professional reputation, or my clients' business and/or data on a product that has only 1 person involved with the development and support.

It probably would be a good thing (for the BD user community) if some small/medium software company with fairly deep pockets could purchase the product as well as Mikhail's efforts (or make him a partner) and properly go forward with the product. Depending on whether Mikhail is willing and able to do this.

Wow... worked like a charm.
Got an email back from a guy called Tom. He said they are having problems with the support system and that v10 will be out in a few days.



So happy right now.

Regards
James

Just some options to check out- have not actually used these programs.
1/ Longtion Application Builder 5.7
2/Nubuilder
3/Tersus
4/Sesame database
5/RADvolution Designer
6/Velneo (when they release English version - can download old English 6.4 free to get feel for program)

Longtion possibly closest to BB but have not built anything and do not know what suppot is like - user forum seems to have vanished).

woow, now i can see that i am not alone in the world...

this is fer from mexico,

i purchased the full version, -that cost me an eye, too much- and now i am developing an application willing to sell it. and yes that is the question wich database has all the features of brilliant -i have been searching for a year now- and even with the bad support there is not an alternative....

the best part of brilliant is

1. the posibility of build an application
2. the scripting assitants

and as far as i know there is no alternative that fullfill all the features of brilliant...

i have and idea...

if there is not support... if it is deathware... so... why dont we buy a licence and share it i think that this will make that the owners of brilliant come to live -to tell us that it is iligarl jajajaj

i have some skills with brilliant if i can help please let me know.