Microcomputer Software for In-House Databases... Four Top Packages Under $2000

With the growing power and storage capacity of microcomputer systems, the prospect of developing an in-house database is becoming more attractive for many. Software for the design and creation of in-house databases, for information retrieval is now available to meet the requirements of a wide range of applications. The quality of recent software is much improved over that available a few years ago. In this article we will examine four information retrieval packages which run on small single user microcomputers: CAIRS, INMAGIC, Sci-Mate, and SIRE. All of the packages are available for the IBM PC and other MS-DOS systems, and are also available for other systems as well--in some cases ranging up to large multi-user minicomputer systems. All use variable length fields and records, and all sell for under $2000. These four packages are the best we have seen that meet these criteria. Additional packages were discussed in earlier article