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
