Business Basic Systems
Corporation is home to MicroShare Basic
The "Open Source" Business Basic
Although Business Basic has been around since the late 1970's,
it has never been well known in the software industry. This has
lead to minimal exposure and market acceptance for applications
written in Business Basic. Even though over the years, the
applications written in Business Basic have been used world wide
in many key business sectors and by many high-end application
packages.
MicroShare Basic was first developed back in the late 1980's
and was initially sold as a multi-user Dos product. Later, a
Xenix/Unix version was created bringing the power and flexibility
of Business Basic to the appeal of a Unix style operating system.
Then, in the 1990's, MicroShare Basic was released as a Windows
product which included graphical controls, image/bitmap
processing, MDI document support, DAO for database access, a thin
client terminal interface, a grid control and much more.
The language is compatible with most other dialects of
Business Basic complete with OS and terminal independence,
multi-keyed files, and a wide variety of functions and utility
programs designed for business applications.
BBSysco’s Open Source Provides Flexibility and Choice
BBSysco offers MicroShare Basic (MSB), an open source Business
Basic, under a dual licensing business model: the GNU General
Public License (GPL) and a standard Commercial License. Offering
MSB as an open source product gives Business Basic developers
access to the inner working of the product. This in turn provides
them knowledge of the capabilities that Business Basic offers and
flexibility to use and adapt these to meet their needs in the
creation of business applications.
Open source and dual licensing means the Business Basic
community has more choices as to the type of software licensing
model they wish to use.
Open Source Business Basic is Good News
Having a Business Basic within the open source community is
good for everyone. It means more exposure to the language and
more programmers knowledgeable and capable of using the language.
A few of the benefits:
More exposure to the language within the IS community
New programmers can learn the language at no cost
Educational institutions can provide training without
paying license fees
Access to marketplaces that demand open source product
offerings
Guaranteed longevity of the product and ongoing
development
Open source community developers quicken the pace of
enhancements
Custom interfaces and features can be integrated into the
environment
Get involved with MicroShare - the Open Source Business Basic
Currently, BBSysco is working through the source code acquired
and preparing it for general release. We anticipate the first
version to be available by mid-to-late fall 2007.
During this time frame, we are looking for input on a number
of core elements within the language such as the default file
separator, default file information format, and other aspects of
Business Basic that vary between different dialects.
You can participate in our forum discussions at http://forums.bbsysco.com
where we will be discussing the language and reviewing how best
it can be enhanced to meet the need of the community.
In addition, you can follow along with our development Blog
where we will keep you informed with the progress of on-going
development and features at http://blog.bbsysco.com.
Your input and the input from others in the Business Basic
community will be the key to our mutual success.
With you, our partners, we will grow Business Basic and
together make it the business application environment of choice.
