I've been a dedicated Q&A fan for nearly 20 years.  I love it's simple interface.  It allows anyone to get data into and out of a computer with ease.  Even people with little computer experience.  There is always a mini menu on the bottom of every screen -- despite the fact that it uses the "old, outdated, antiquated" DOS screen.  Need more help?  Just press F10.  I've never seen a Windows product that offers help as easily.  Every Windows product just leads me endlessly through meaningless screens, and by the time I find a possible solution, I've forgotten what the problem was.

Another joy of Q&A is it's simple menu and control keys.  My options are clearly presented on the screen and I can pick them without even using the mouse -- if I want.  It's nearly impossible to get lost and I always find what I need to do.  THE OPTIONS ARE CLEAR.

Now we have Sesame.  What a catastrophe.  I've tried it on two computers and they keep blowing up.  When they do work, it destroys my data when I redesign the forms, and I can never find the option pertaining to what I want to do.  No easy, fast menu on the bottom of the screen.  If I want to do something simple -- like create a database or a form -- I've got to switch to Sdesigner then figure out how to get back to Sesame without losing my design and/or my data.  Jeez, that's why I use Q&A -- to avoid all that ACCESS-style crap.

I guess Bill Gates wins again, but at least I still have Q&A to work with.  A Q&A database that a neophyte could set up in 10 minutes would take them a week to set up in Sesame -- same with Access.  Where's the benefit.

Anyway, thanks for trying, guys.

I have been using Q&A for the last 15 years and just like yourself, I love Q&A. Q&A runs my busy medical practice.  From patient scheduling, charting, electronic billing, patient recall and all other office functions are being performed using Q&A.  I feel, I can do anything with Q&A. Thanks to good people who later on formed Lantica, who kept Q&A alive until now by providing workaround in the changing environment. William Halpern, Tom Marcellus, Alec Mulvey, Mark Lasersohn, Erika Yoxall, John Dow, just to name a few.  I have not met any one of them face to face but I owe them a lot.  They are extremely talented and capable group of people who deserve nothing but profuse gratitude from Q&A users.

When I received Sesame three weeks ago, I recognized that there will be a learning curve and after using and   playing around for a while, I feel a lot better already. I think one can do a lot more using Sesame as it has a lot more to offer in the form of programming capabilities. Addition of variables, arrays and loops provide a whole new dimention for the power users and yet it maintains the simplicity and user-friendliness of Q&A. 

There are users of Q&A who will initially feel more comfortable with Q&A because they have been using it for the past several years. After using Sesame for a few months, I am sure, we will feel the same way about Sesame and perhaps we will find Q&A inadequete at best and helpless and hopeless after Bill Gates makes it unusable in Windows Environment.

Q&A users are the real beneficiary of Sesame. They can use all the knowledge that they have aquired using Q&A.  Programs Transportability, being able to use the same programming language that they have learned and have been using for several years along with field and event base programming and support from the same talented group of people who have kept Q&A alive. What more can you ask for?

As a matter of fact, I am very delighted and thrilled to have product like Sesame, that opens the whole new possibilities for small business owners and professionals as well as computer enthusiasts.

I plead to you to keep working with Sesame until you feel comfortable. Use this forum and ask questions if you have any difficulties. People in this forum are very knowledgable and are backed by lanticans who have designed the program.  After a very short period, you might find yourself wondering, how did you ever manage without Sesame? 

I have used Q&A both DOS 5.0 and 4.06 for win 3.x since the early 1990's.  I am a die hard fan and user.  I currently am a project manager of a 5 million dollar environmental company and use QA to run this companies operation. I work in an extremely fast paced environment with lots of changes happening. I was a little apprehensive at first to make the transition to Sesame. However, I am in the process of translating all databases that I use to run the company. I am running both programs simultaneously to compare differences on the same tasks. With the help of this forum and support I have been successful in the translation of all databases.

I like Q&A for the reasons you describe. It is very intuitive, easy to use,  and more importantly, you can train people to use it with ease. I never liked Microsoft Access ("It is like learning to speak French and then writing in Arabic")

Granted Sesame v1.0 takes some getting used compared to Q&A ;I liked that I was able   transfers all my data to Sesame with out loosing a thing. It uses very similar commands as Q&A. I find once you get used to it, the more I like. Navigating is second nature like in Q&A.  It is extremely powerful. I creating things that I just could not do it Q&A. (ie merging two database applications together, email capabilities, the html reports are very nice(no formatting to fit the page) etc.
Seame is a great replacement product that fits in with todays operating systems and capabilities. It can be used from simple to complex design applications.

I found reading APPENDIX 3  PHILOSOHY in User Guide helps to understand what Sesame is about in relation to Q&A.  It is not Q&A v 6.0. 

I highly support Sesame product and the company's hard work to produce this product. They have taken a dead horse Q&A (in terms of support and upgrade versions) and created a thoroughbred race horse.  I am sure its future evolution will be even more powerful.

Regards,

David Costanzo

<< I am sure its future evolution will be even more powerful. >>

I don't want more power.  I'll leave that to Tim Taylor.  What I want is ease of use.  Not just for myself, but for all the people who I'm supposed to get to use this software.  They already know the basics of ACCESS, and all I can offer them is another plate of spaghetti.  Currently, I can tell them, "Don't worry, we can use Q&A and ANY idiot can use it".  It's no surprise to any of you that I have lots of Q&A converts.  When they have a new project, they always ask for Q&A and refuse to work with ACCESS.

But plop the same person in front of a machine with Sesame and I'll make an instant ememy.  I can no longer tell them, "This is SO much easier than ACCESS.  ANY idiot can use it".   I have a reputation to uphold.  I can't just give them the standard Microsoft line, "Things will be better with the next upgrade".

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I agree - virtually everything other than Q&A is much more expensive, slow, and hard to maintain. We've had several clients try to go to Access. Most are back on Q&A. One "spent thousands and thousands of dollars" and about 2 years getting a developer to create a functionally duplicate Access system. The client "found us" and asked if they could go back to Q&A. They still had the old QA4 databases. We had them up and running on QA5 with QA4 for Windows as the delux form printer, with their new data, in less than 2 months, for under $2500. Been a client for about 2 years now - someday they will move this app to Sesame.

I forgot to mention some important facts.

1. After such an expense, the program runs 80% what the used to have in QA5.
2. This school had to partially rely on written records to pass their most recent accreditation and program review because the program was not reliable.
3. They have broken off relations with them.
4. My son-in-law was hired about two years ago as their Lan Administrator (he was a professor before) and he now has the unfortunate task of trying to make it work. He constantly tells me what a headache the spagetti code has turned out to be.
5.The biggest complaint is too many menu's to get to a specific form. The users want to enter their particular data and go home.
6. Our service contract used to cost them only $1,000 a month. But now it will cost them much more because Sesame is graphical, pretty and in Windows.
7. Thank you Sesame.