A fifth product, datamaker

[fadi]

You provide 4 products, textmaker, planmaker, presentations, and flexipdf. I think you had plans in the past for an access like product but you opted for a small module in textmaker. Anyway, I am suggesting a fifth product similar to mathesar, airtable, nocodb , baserow, and seatable. But it should be a standalone app, with a ribbon interface and based on SQLite. It should also be able to export to planmaker and textmaker and replace the small module .

[Woody44]

I have on several occasions made multiple suggestions that, in order to really compete against Microsoft Office and LibreOffice/OpenOffice, SoftMaker Office needs to have a genuine relational database, not just a gloried address book function tucked away inside TextMaker. And it is my understanding that, a number of years ago, SoftMaker actually offered a database program, but it was dropped after 1997.

https://www.softmaker.com/en/history

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/DataMaker

For whatever reason, it appears that SoftMaker is now totally opposed to the notion of introducing a useful, relational database module in SoftMaker Office. I don't know why, especially since they used to have one, but there it is. It's the major issue that prevents me from totally severing ties with Microsoft Office -- I occasionally use Access. I don't need it often but, when I need it, the "database" in TextMaker is woefully inadequate. And the database module in LibreOffice/OpenOffice looks good, except that the report function is an exercise in total frustration. It's impossible to format reports for print.

[fadi]

@Woody44 try SQLite expert if you do not like access or base. I personally like mathesar and similar spreadsheet like apps.
I know creating a new app would be costly for softmaker , but a data based app would complement their product line.

[Woody44]

@Woody44 try SQLite expert if you do not like access or base. I personally like mathesar and similar spreadsheet like apps.
I know creating a new app would be costly for softmaker , but a data based app would complement their product line.

I didn't say I don't like Access. The only thing I don't like about it is that it's a Microsoft product. I don't like Base because formatting reports is essentially impossible.

That said, I have been saying for a long time that if Softmaker really wants SoftMaker Office to compete against Microsoft Office, it needs a fully-featured relational database, not the glorified contact list in Textmaker.

[swarfendor437]

In respect of Microsoft Access, if only being used by one or two persons it is fine (per a NT4 Guru who told me), anything more than that is asking for trouble, and they stated the only truly scalable database is one produced by Oracle. The other issue with Access is that old versions are not compatible with new ones. While I was on placement in the IT Department of a Social Services Directorate, the head of IT 'upgraded' a sections MS Access 2.0 to MS Access ’97 and the databases no longer worked. I suspect SoftMaker did not pursue DataMaker because they are a small concern compared to major players and need to focus their resources on what they excel in (no pun intended). I did contact support and asked them about screen reader support and they stated they don't have the resources for it. So I suspect the same would apply to DataMaker not being a possibility.

[Jossi]

That's the point. It is already something of a miracle that such a small firm (IIRC they have less than 50 employees) is able to develop such premium office software as they do and compete with Microsoft. Years ago there was a database app called Datamaker to complete the office suite; but SoftMaker had to admit that to develop and keep up to date a fullblown database app in addition to the existing programs was too much for them.

[Woody44]

I didn't realize that SoftMaker is such a small company. Your premise makes sense. I think most people (and most company employees) who use Microsoft Office use primarily Word and Excel, with a smaller but still significant number sometimes using Powerpoint. I know the municipality I worked for had MS Office 2019 (not Microsoft 365) on all employees' computers, but most people had only Word and Excel, not even Powerpoint. Nobody in town had Access. When my department needed a small database, I developed it at home on my personal copy of Access, then we got the IT department to install the free Access runtime on everyone's computer. This allowed us to use the database in the office, but to make any changes to the database structure I had to open it at home. (Which was actually probably a blessing, because it meant that users who didn't know what they were doing couldn't make changes and muck up the way the database worked.)