It is a fairly safe bet that anyone with a computer has a word processor. It would also be safe betting that most business computer users have a spreadsheet. Lurking in the shadows, though, there is another category of product that is not nearly so loved and wanted - the database.
At this point, I feel a need to put up a large sign saying Don't Panic] Databases can be housetrained and, despite rumours to the contrary, you do not need a dangerous animal licence to keep one. However, whether you will get any benefit from using one is another matter.
Databases are used to keep sets of information and while you can certainly keep the details of your CD collection, favourite recipes, or household inventory, the chances are that it will be more trouble than it is worth. Even a name and address list is a marginal case - it is so much simpler to carry an address book on holiday.
Where the database leaps into the limelight is in business. If you are trying to keep invoices, orders, customer details, and so on, using a paper-based system, or even a combination of word processor and spreadsheet, you are ignoring a tool that will make your working life much simpler. A good database will save hours of time each week and will allow you to do things that were previously impossible.
There are dozens of successful databases aimed at different market niches. But there are a few frontrunners, each of which has some attractions, some limitations.
Before you can use a database to store data, you have to teach it the structure of the information you want to keep. What makes one database different from another is how easy it is to start feeding in information and how far you can go before it throws up its hands in horror and stops listening. All databases are some compromise between simplicity and staying power and you have to decide whether you want a really easy time now, or whether you have a complex business that needs the power at the far end.
Looking at simplicity against power, roughly speaking Filemaker and Approach are the most straightforward, Access, DBase for Windows and Paradox offer more power in roughly ascending order.
Filemaker comes in versions for both the PC and the Apple Macintosh. It is simple to use, rather more tolerant of slow machines than the other packages, but buys its simplicity through accepting a lower cut-off point, most obviously because you can edit only one table of data at a time. This might sound attractively simple, but in most cases means that you will have to work much harder in the long run.
If you want simplicity without hitting restrictions too soon, Approach is your best bet. It works well with popular file formats, has a wide range of pre-prepared structures for you to customise and simply avoids topics that beginners find tricky such as indexes and queries.
The remaining three contenders, Access, DBase for Windows and Paradox, are slightly further along the simplicity/power path largely because they offer more.
As an example of this, consider the way you can design questions about your information, such as 'show me all the customers who live in Dundee'. Approach and Filemaker let you fill in an empty copy of the data entry form, while in Access, DBase and Paradox you fill in a structure rather like a spreadsheet. This method is called query by example or QBE, and it goes much further, allowing you to ask more complicated questions. In Access and Paradox you can also use it to change information and create graphs and summaries of your data. It is, however, more difficult to learn in the beginning than the alternative 'fill in the form' method.
The final thing to consider is how you can gain real control over your data. All the packages let you create macros - simple lists of commands from your database put together, such as perhaps checking that all fields are completed before leaving the data entry form. Access, DBase and Paradox go further, with complete programming languages. These are largely irrelevant to the beginner, but mean that an expert - which could be you in a couple of years - can make the package do more or less anything you want, removing all limitations.
Paradox and DBase also allow you to capitalise on existing investments by bringing into systems running under Windows, the PC-compatible's graphics-based operating system, programs developed using the equivalent versions that run under Dos, the PC's basic operating system.
DATABASES
Filemaker: Claris, 081 756 0101; pounds 115.
Approach: Lotus, 0784 455445; pounds 105.
Access: Microsoft, 0734 270001; pounds 270.
Paradox: Borland, 0800 212727; pounds 105.
DBase for Windows: Borland, 0800 212727; price to be announced.
(Street prices inclusive of VAT).