dBASE 5.0 For Windows Wins PC Magazine Technical Excellence Award; Borland's New Database Sweeps COMDEX Awards: Wins PC Magazine's Technical Excellence and PC/Computing's Most Valuable Product

Business Wire, Nov 15, 1994

LAS VEGAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 15, 1994--Borland International Inc.'s new dBASE 5.0 for Windows has received the 1994 Technical Excellence Award for Application Development Tools from the editors of PC Magazine, the most widely read computer trade publication. The Technical Excellence award winners were announced at a COMDEX ceremony here Monday -- a day after dBASE for Windows earned PC/Computing Magazine's Most Valuable Product Award for best database software. The Technical Excellence Award ceremony highlighted the technical superiority of 31 products in 12 categories with dBASE 5.0 for Windows winning the Application Development Tools category over Microsoft Access and Oracle7 Server.

"These two awards establish dBASE for Windows as the undisputed leader in the database market," said V. David Watkins, vice president and general manager of Borland's dBASE Business Unit. "From PC/Computing's MVP Award for usability, power, and productivity, to PC Magazine's Technical Excellence Award for Two-Way-Tools, object technology, and development capabilities; dBASE for Windows offers customers the best database solution for their desktop and client-server needs."

In its eleventh year, the Technical Excellence Award was created to allow PC Magazine's editors the opportunity to recognize outstanding products from a variety of hardware and software categories. "Our goal is simple: to reward the innovators who continue to make the personal computer industry one of the most exciting in human history," said the editors of PC Magazine. "...These products have survived a rigorous process of debate, balloting, further debate and more balloting among our editors and contributing editors in order to make it as a finalist or a winner."

PC/Computing's Most Valuable Product Award

PC/Computing's MVP Awards focus on user productivity and usability, as well as technological innovation. dBASE was chosen over Microsoft Access 2.0 and Lotus Approach Release 3.0 as the top database of 1994.

In its annual MVP Awards issue, PC/Computing's editors hailed dBASE for Windows' new Two-Way-Tools and other technical advances: "It's everything a relational database is supposed to be. There is plenty of power for (developers), including object-oriented extensions to the familiar language and extra tools in the way of VBX access...Add to all that a robust database engine and seamless interaction with external databases, and you get a complete client-server relational database development tool for the nineties."

Other International Awards

The Technical Excellence and Most Valuable Product Awards are the most recent of several prestigious international awards that dBASE 5.0 for Windows has won for its superior data management and application development capabilities:

The SMAU Industrial Design Award for Software (Italy)

SMAU is the largest and most important computer and electronics trade show in Italy. Each year, a select committee of prominent Italian architects, educators, and industry executives choose the best new products from over 150 entries. In October, dBASE 5.0 for Windows was presented with the 27th annual SMAU Industrial Design Award in the software category for its overall design, graphical user interface, and innovative blend of state-of-the-art technologies and compatibility with previous versions of dBASE.

Personal Computer World Magazine's Editor's Choice Award (UK)

One of the oldest and largest personal computing magazines in the United Kingdom, Personal Computer World Magazine recently honored dBASE 5.0 for Windows with its Editor's Choice Award as Best Windows Database Development Package. In its December issue, the magazine said dBASE for Windows' "rich programming environment puts it head and shoulders above FoxPro in terms of its ability to exploit Windows features fully."

PC User Magazine's Gold Award (UK)

PC User, the leading business computing magazine in the United Kingdom, has awarded dBASE for Windows its distinguished Gold Award. In a September 1994 review, the magazine's editors praised the product "for its elegant design, two-way-tools and DOS compatibility."

Computer Buyer Middle East Editor's Choice Award

The largest English language computer magazine in the region, Computer Buyer Middle East has given dBASE 5.0 for Windows its Editor's Choice Award over competing products from Lotus and Microsoft. According to the magazine's November issue, dBASE for Windows is "...one of the most reliable databases around and has always changed itself to follow market requirements."

About dBASE

With an estimated 15 million users according to Computer Intelligence InfoCorp, dBASE is the worldwide standard for application development and the most widely-used database of large corporations and government organizations. Available now for Microsoft Windows, DOS, UNIX, and VAX VMS systems, dBASE supports the widest range of computing platforms of any desktop database.

dBASE 5.0 for Windows, winner of PC/Computing Magazine's 1994 MVP Award and the PC Magazine 1994 Award for Technical Excellence, is the most powerful and advanced Windows database and application development environment. Built upon the industry-standard dBASE language and easy-to-use object-oriented technology, dBASE for Windows enables users to access the most popular corporate data sources, including dBASE and Paradox, Oracle, Microsoft/Sybase SQL Server, Borland InterBase, and all ODBC-compliant databases, such as Informix, DB2, and AS/400.