What a year it's been. And as the late Jerry Garcia said, "What a long strange trip it's been".
In the "mainstream" of computing, we have seen mega-mergers like IBM and Lotus. Plus, the break-up of AT&T, the release of the much-hyped Windows '95 from Microsoft, and the meteoric rise of NetScape where, in one day, they went from a net worth of several million dollars all the way to two-billion dollars. Really. It took General Dynamics 40-plus years to reach that level.
In our little corner of the market, we have Unidata and System Builder joinging forces, and VMark's recent acquisition of Easel.
Even Pick Systems is now "partnering" with outside companies, in the form of promoting Wintegrate as their GUI front-end of choice.
At the next tier, we have software companies like DataWorks and Madic/Compufact teaming together.
Additionally, the Internet and all it's related providers, developers, software companies and hardware companies are growing at a rate that matches - or even surpasses - the unbelievable growth of the Dow Jones.
So is the "Pick" Market Growing?
My guess is that despite all the rumors to the contrary, it seems to be holding it's own.
We still see a bright future, but one where we are going to have to keep learning.
Jonathan E. Sisk
We recently switched our World Wide Web Server over to a new Web Server and changed our URL to http://www.jes.com/. Please update your links to us.
Beginning in January, JES will offer a three-day SQL class. It is designed for those who are familiar with ACCESS, RETRIEVE, UNIQUERY or any other Pick (and Pick-like) query language.
We have had a lot of interest recently from companies who want their staff to learn the Pick retrieval language without having to commit a lot of time. In response, we are bringing back our "Intro to ACCESS" course # 245. This is a ground-floor, entry-level class designed for those who use the Pick System and need to extract reports beyond the abilities provided through their menus.
We are conducting several Pick and Advanced Pick classes at the facilities of System Builder in March. Jon Sisk will be teaching and speaking to the Atlanta Area Pick Users Group about the Internet and Pick.
A new book, "Unix and Unidata", is being published in October. Written by Martin Taylor - author of "Pick For Users" - and J.S. Rees, it is expected to be priced at 29.95 UKL (roughly $45 in the US). The publisher is Martin's company, "Datamatters, Ltd.".
W. Clifton Oliver has taken over the role of "Keeper of the Lists" for the VMark (e-mail) list server. The list addresses will change to Info-Prime@netcom.com and Info-Vmark@netcom.com. Subscribe to listserv@netcom.com.
Cussley College of Technology is about to make Pick part of its BEC/TEC curriculum. The moving force behind this is Colin Patterson, former chairman of the Institute of Data Processing Management.
(Note to email/WWW readers: We are not making the following up.)
Thanks to all of you who called in to ask where you should send checks for Jon Sisk's Web Edition of the first Pick/BASIC book. The fact is, it's free, but if you insist, you can send checks of any amount to our P.O. Box. All you need to get your own free copy is a Web browser and you can download it right to your own system. The URL is http://www.jes.com/pb/.
200ar Pick/AP Fundamentals Chicago, IL 10/9-13 Portland, OR 10/16-20 San Ramon, CA 10/23-27, 2/26-3/1 Newport Beach, CA 11/6-10, 1/15-19, 3/4-8 Atlanta, GA 3/18-22 245r Intro to ACCESS San Ramon, CA 10/10, 2/12 Newport Beach, CA 1/11 250a AP System Admin/Maint Newport Beach, CA 11/20-22, 3/18-20 318ar Pick/AP BASIC Programming Chicago, IL 10/16-20 Newport Beach, CA 11/13-17, 1/22-26, 3/11-15 San Ramon, CA 12/ 4-8 Atlanta, GA 3/25-29 325r Advanced ACCESS San Ramon, CA 11/9, 2/15 330r Advanced PROC San Ramon, CA 2/14 401 Advanced Techniques Newport Beach, CA 11/13-15 San Ramon, CA 3/13-15 425a1 AP for Pick Pros Newport Beach, CA Anytime
200d UniData Fundamentals Chicago, IL 10/2-6, 3/4-8 San Diego, CA 12/4-8 San Ramon, CA 1/8-12 Newport Beach, CA 1/29-2/2 250dx Unix Sys. Admin. Chicago, IL 10/23-24 San Diego, CA 12/11-12 250d Unidata Admin. Newport Beach, CA 2/5-7 Chicago, IL 3/11-13 315d Unidata BASIC Programming Newport Beach, CA 10/23-27, 2/26-3/1 San Ramon, CA 3/25-29
200v uniVerse Fundamentals
Chicago, IL 10/2-6, 3/4-8
San Diego, CA 12/4-8
San Ramon, CA 1/8-12
Newport Beach, CA 1/29-2/2
250v uniVerse Sys. Admin.
Newport Beach, CA 12/4-6
San Ramon, CA 1/17-19
315v uniVerse BASIC Programming
Newport Beach, CA 10/23-27, 2/26-3/1
San Ramon, CA 3/25-29
200ax Unix Fundamentals San Diego, CA 11/13-17 San Ramon, CA 1/29-2/2 Newport Beach, CA 2/19-23
New! Upcoming Courses: SQL
450 SQL Fundamentals Newport Beach, CA 2/5-7
- Overview of Database, files and tables
- SQL Language
- Retrieving Data From a Table
- Output
- Joining Tables
- Selecting on Multi-Values
- Data Modifications
- Data Integrity