History of Database Software

Databases originated in the 1960’s with the development of computers designed to manage large business data sets.  The term “data base” was used in the 1960’s until the single word, database, became popular in the 1970’s (The Linux Information Project, 2006).  The concept of a desktop computer database did not develop until after the 1970’s with the development of personal computers.  A personal computer (PC) was a term used to differentiate a computer designed for use of an individual, rather than a business organization. 

Early Relational Database Development

Two early PC relational databases were dBase and FoxPro.  dBase was developed in 1978 by Wayne Ratliff, a programming contractor at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California (Martel, n.d.). Ratliff developed the database to win the office football pool (Unarchived, 2012). He ran the program on his kit-built home computer. Early PCs were kit-built for users as a hobby. Later, Ratliff collaborated with George Tate to create a company and market the software.  dBase was very popular during the 1980’s and later sold to Borland in 1993. dBase began to lose popularity as competition database software was released to the marketplace.  However, dBase is still available today from http://www.dbase.com/. 

Two other early PC database programs were FoxPro and Paradox. FoxPro was developed in 1984 by Fox Software and was acquired by Microsoft in 1992 (Wikipedia Authors, 2012a).  Richard Schwartz and Robert Shostak developed Paradox for DOS in 1985.  Their company was Ansa Software and later purchased by Borland in 1987.  Like dBase, dBase and Paradox were designed for developers with programming knowledge rather than home users (Wikipedia Authors, 2012b).  

The development of Windows with a graphical user interface (GUI) forced developers to redesign software.  In the early 1990’s all developers were scrambling to use GUI.  Paradox was designed for Windows by a different team of programmers.  Paradox for Windows was released in 1993 two months after the release of Microsoft Access, which had already had taken hold in the marketplace.

Two prevalent commercial personal databases used today are FileMaker Pro and Microsoft Access.  An historical view of the development for the two applications provides an understanding of the differences noted in the products used today.  Microsoft Access is available only for the Microsoft Windows operating system (OS). In contrast, FileMaker Pro is available for Microsoft Windows OS, Mac OS X, and the Apple iPad.

FileMaker Pro

The origin of FileMaker was the early 1980’s. The developers were Spec Bowers, Alan Albert, Dan Chadwick and Jega Arulpragasam, employees of Wang Labs in Lowell, Massachusetts (Koenig, 2004).  They designed their first database application, Nutshell, to provide an efficient user interface.  Leading Edge, a company that manufactured and sold PC clones, marketed the software.  About the same time, Apple introduced Macintosh computers to the marketplace.  Leading Edge would not sell to Mac market, so the developers redesigned Nutshell for the Mac computers, naming it FileMaker (Koenig, 2004).  Later, Claris, a subsidiary of Apple, purchased FileMaker. Claris redesigned, FileMaker to work with Microsoft Windows.  Afterwards, Apple dissolved Claris and established FileMaker as a separate company.  FileMaker, Inc., a subsidiary of Apple, markets FileMaker Pro software today.

Microsoft Access

Microsoft Access was first released in 1992 (the same year FoxPro was purchased) for the Windows OS (Beitler, 2010).  In 1993, a second version was released to be more compatible with Microsoft Office.  Microsoft released additional versions of Access to be compatible with newer iterations of Windows operating systems.  Access was a component of Microsoft Office Professional. Access 2010 is the most recent version of the relational database software, although 2013 is scheduled for release in 2013.  The target audience for the software continues to be small and medium-sized businesses. 

Summary

Database software development has mirrored the development of personal computers and mobile devices since the 1960’s.  The early databases were designed and used by computer programmers.  When desktop database solutions were marketed to small business owners, the software design began to change so that programming knowledge was not required.  Two popular desktop database solutions used today are Microsoft Access and FileMaker Pro. 

References

Beitler, B. (2010, December 29). A brief history of Microsoft Access  Retrieved November 25, 2012, from http://accessdatabasetutorial.com/tag/history-of-microsoft-access/

Koenig, G. (2004, April 2). The origin of FileMaker Pro  Retrieved November 25, 2012, from http://www.dancing-data.com/filemakerhist.html

Martel, J.-P. (n.d.). A personal history of dBase  Retrieved November 25, 2012, from http://www.staubassociates.com/dbase/bu03hist.htm

The Linux Information Project. (2006, June 22). Database definition  Retrieved November 25, 2012, from http://www.linfo.org/database.html

Unarchived. (2012). History of Microsoft Access  Retrieved November 25, 2012, from http://articles.webraydian.com/article31784-History_of_Microsoft_Access.html

Wikipedia Authors. (2012a, November 21). FoxPro  Retrieved November 25, 2012, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foxpro

Wikipedia Authors. (2012b, April 19). Paradox (database)  Retrieved November 25, 2012, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradox_%28database%29