A Place For My Stuff for Windows

This is a quick overview of Quadrangle Software's new relational database
product for Windows--A Place For My Stuff.

Other Relational Databases

First, let's talk about how other database products work. There are two
kinds. The first kind promises flexibility, but in order to accomplish it,
you are required to become a database designer. You specify what data
elements you need. To do this you type labels (field names) and create
boxes for field values for each and every piece of information you want to
keep track of. So you end up with many fields like--name, address1,
address2, company, title, phone number, fax number, work location, city,
state, zip code, ... and so on. Then next week, when you find out you also
have to keep track of product information for each customer, you have
another screen to design with product codes, prices, descriptions, and
quantities. And, you need to have an index that ties your product
information to a specific customer.

The second kind of relational database is more for general use, and
therefore offers little flexibility. Here, the designers have decided for
you what information you want to keep. So there are pre-defined labels and
boxes for name, address, phone number, etc. You don't have to design
screens or reports, but when you need to store some information that is
not already specified, you have three choices. You can put the information
in a field you're not using (and hope you don't need it in the future) and
live with the label being inaccurate, or you can store the information in
some other database application (uh-oh ... how do you indicate its
relationships to data in your primary database?) Or, you can convince
yourself that if the designers of your database software didn't allow for
your particular data, maybe it's not so important to keep in the first
place.

Let's Make It Easy--Simple Sentences

Well, let's turn all this upside-down. First, assume that most people have
stuff, not data elements. They don't know what an index is, and they don't
have the time or the training to perform the tasks associated with
database design, screen design (and worse, keeping the screens
up-to-date), or report layout.

Look at it this way. What are names, and addresses, and phone numbers, and
products, and quantities? Believe it or not, they are something we first
learned about in kindergarten. They're Subjects and Objects of sentences.
So in order to display them on a screen, we don't need data elements ...
dozens of them ... ever changing... we can have just two--a place for
Subjects and a place for Objects.

Now, think about the information you want to keep. It is usually expressed
to you or by you in the form of a simple sentence. And every sentence can
be expressed by one of the forms of the verb 'to be' . . . is, are, will
be, was, were . . . Verbs give your information a place in time.

Relationships--Connections

So, what do we have so far? Subject; Verb; Object. What's missing? Only one
thing actually, although it's the most important part! The reason you need
a database. You want to relate things to other things. You need to connect
the Subject to the Object. How 'bout if we call it a Connection? So now we
have--Subject; Verb; Connection; and Object.

Here's an example of a simple sentence with the connection "location of"

   Ann Arbor is the location of Quadrangle Software Corporation.

Now, let's say we want to qualify the relationship between the Subject (Ann
Arbor) and the Object (Quadrangle Software Corporation).

To specify the stature of Quadrangle's Ann Arbor office, you would enter:

Ann Arbor is the headquarters location of Quadrangle Software Corporation.

You've probably guessed already--headquarters is the Modifier.

Every piece of information you have--names, locations, companies, dates,
times, meeting notes, research items, to dos ... all can be expressed by
simple sentences like those above.

Field Labels Are Really Categories

One last thing. We also provide a place where you can specify what your
Subjects and Objects are--specifically, their labels. These are Categories
... and Categories are the things you used to worry about--fields for
which you'd have to create a screen. But here, you simply enter a Category
in one spot and it is added to a pull-down list that has no limit.

Install and Go

And obviously, to make things really easy to enter, you don't even have to
deal with typing a sentence part into a box and then tabbing to the next
box ... and so on. You can enter your information by typing a complete
sentence in one spot and A Place For My Stuff will parse it (break it up)
into its parts--Subject, Verb, Modifier, Connection, and Object.

For the majority of PC Windows users what could be easier?

You load the software and can start using it right away, and without
concern about the content of information you'll receive in the future,
information whose form and content you simply can't predict.

Needless to say, there are many other features in A Place For My Stuff that
enable you to perform all the tasks you'd expect with a full-function,
comprehensive relational database.

A Place For My Stuff ... the place we all have been looking for since
kindergarten.

System Requirements: Windows 3. 1; 80286 or higher PC; EGA, VGA or
compatible video graphics adapter and monitor; 3.5" drive high-density
(1.44 MB) disk drive and hard disk; Mouse; 640k convention + 1024k
extended + virtual memory (2048 recommended); 1MB disk space

List Price: $129.00   -----   Street Price: $79.00 

Quadrangle Software, Inc. 
305 East Eisenhower Pkwy, Suite 208, Ann Arbor, MI 48108
Voice: (313) 769-1675;   Fax: (313) 769-1695 

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