Although Business Basic has been around since the late 1970's, it has never been well known in the software industry. This has lead to minimal exposure and market acceptance for applications written in Business Basic. Even though over the years, the applications written in Business Basic have been used world wide in many key business sectors and by many high-end application packages.
MicroShare Basic was first developed back in the late 1980's and was initially sold as a multi-user Dos product. Later, a Xenix/Unix version was created bringing the power and flexibility of Business Basic to the appeal of a Unix style operating system. Then, in the 1990's, MicroShare Basic was released as a Windows product which included graphical controls, image/bitmap processing, MDI document support, DAO for database access, a thin client terminal interface, a grid control and much more.
The language is compatible with most other dialects of Business Basic complete with OS and terminal independence, multi-keyed files, and a wide variety of functions and utility programs designed for business applications.
BBSysco’s Open Source Provides Flexibility and Choice
BBSysco offers MicroShare Basic (MSB), an open source Business Basic, under a dual licensing business model: the GNU General Public License (GPL) and a standard Commercial License. Offering MSB as an open source product gives Business Basic developers access to the inner working of the product. This in turn provides them knowledge of the capabilities that Business Basic offers and flexibility to use and adapt these to meet their needs in the creation of business applications.
Open source and dual licensing means the Business Basic community has more choices as to the type of software licensing model they wish to use.
Open Source Business Basic is Good News
Having a Business Basic within the open source community is good for everyone. It means more exposure to the language and more programmers knowledgeable and capable of using the language.
A few of the benefits:
- More exposure to the language within the IS community
- New programmers can learn the language at no cost
- Educational institutions can provide training without paying license fees
- Access to marketplaces that demand open source product offerings
- Guaranteed longevity of the product and ongoing development
- Open source community developers quicken the pace of enhancements
- Custom interfaces and features can be integrated into the environment
Get involved with MicroShare - the Open Source Business Basic
Currently, BBSysco is working through the source code acquired and preparing it for general release. We anticipate the first version to be available by mid-to-late fall 2007.
During this time frame, we are looking for input on a number of core elements within the language such as the default file separator, default file information format, and other aspects of Business Basic that vary between different dialects.
You can participate in our forum discussions at http://forums.bbsysco.com where we will be discussing the language and reviewing how best it can be enhanced to meet the need of the community.
In addition, you can follow along with our development Blog where we will keep you informed with the progress of on-going development and features at http://blog.bbsysco.com.
Your input and the input from others in the Business Basic community will be the key to our mutual success.
With you, our partners, we will grow Business Basic and together make it the business application environment of choice.
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