I was a Dbase and Clipper programmer in the 80s. When Windows came online and GUI application became the new trend PB filled this void with a fantastic product. I was with PB since 1.0 and still here at 11. I never used a development environment I liked better than PB and don't expect to find one either. The very best for sure. No to mention you can still make very very good money doing PB code.

Thanks so much for writing this article. It brought back wonderful memories for me, and I have a few corrections to make. I think it is worth mentioning that PowerSoft was originally called Computer Solutions. The name change took place after the venture capitalists decided that PowerSoft needed to get out of the applications business. I was one of the 14 people on the development team that was sold to Dun & Bradstreet Software. I'm not sure where those references to Vax came from. We never did anything with Vax. We were an HP3000 shop, hence the relationship with HP. I was actually in some of the original design meetings with Litwack, Dewan, and Sheffield, but when they realized I knew nothing about Windows I got kicked out. Oh what could have been. Anyway, I'm still using PB today, and have used every version from 1 - 11, and even used the pre-beta version of 1.0.

Powerbuilder history has some date errors. Cullinet was taken over by CA in 1989 and not in 1986 as the article says. Also doubtful whether the ADS/PC prototype was made in 1985...must be much later.

Otherwise the article was a fantastic one!

Hi Chris!
Thanks for that great story! I started with PB in 1992 and we still use it in many of our products today. Every time I try another technology for GUI development, I always regret it, and like Michael Corleone I get sucked back in! :)

I didn't know that MS was using Watcom for it's products back in the day. I always remember Watcom's "claim to fame" as being the compiler used for the DOOM game... I guess PowerSoft people had a leg up on MS people!

Perhaps with the recent erosion of the Microsoft market they will gain another leg up by providing Linux and Mac OS/X support!

Hey Chris, great story! I began using PB v1.0 in October 1992. I believe it was one of the first C/S projects in the Washington DC metro area. Microsoft was also interested in our success because we were using MS SQL Server and Lan Manager. So, they gave me lots of pre-release goodies (Workgroup for Windows for one) to ensure our success.
Funny story how I stumbled on to PowerBuilder. I was working at Cable & Wireless Communications at the time and very unhappy because the two micro-systems I was maintaining were rolled up under the mainframe management team. It wasn’t that fun so I turned in my resignation. But before I new it, I was being summoned by a new IT Director under the marketing division. Well, he convinced me to stay and head up a client server project, converting a mainframe sales commission application to the PC. It was my choice of tools as long as I could back up by decision with solid research. PC Week had done a very positive article on PowerBuilder, so I called in Microsoft, and Powersoft to see how well their tools worked together, and that’s when I was told about the PB apps running in Redmond. I also spoke to American Airlines, Compaq, and Standard Commercial. All of them gave two-thumbs-up! But you know what sold me on PB v1.0 over MS Visual Basic, and Object Vision (C based) at the time, the debugger. PB’s debugger was great. Having a MS C background, the debugger was very impressive and it sold me.
In April 1993 I was invited to a private executive breakfast, of about 18, where Dave was going to talk about Powersoft’s newest version, soon to be released PB v3.0, and the future. He sat at my table. He hadn't been home, for a while because he was showing off v3.0. The PB Conference had just finished and Dave was pumped. It was a very exciting time. One month later I went out on my own as an independent consultant. I received my PB Certification to teach and Powersoft had me booked out 4 months in advance. I became very successful and continued teaching/consulting up until v7.0 spring 2000. In 1997, most of the herd was heading to SilverStream land, so I followed.
I guess my most rewarding experience was working in Houston between 1993-1995 where I met a lot of key players. During that time Alex Whitney was given the green light to develop the PFC. It was a great time, and I felt very fortunate to know some of the people that I feel shaped the industry.
I really miss the using PB and I'd love to get back on a project using it. It was by far the highlight of my IT career.
Best of Luck!

I have been asked many times by various clients, students, and the IT curious about PowerBuilder: When did Sybase develop the product and how did it evolve? I keep telling this story and answering e-mails on the subject. I am now to the point where I have decided that I should have PBDJ formally publish this story for posterity.

I have been asked many times by various clients, students, and the IT curious about PowerBuilder: When did Sybase develop the product and how did it evolve? I keep telling this story and answering e-mails on the subject. I am now to the point where I have decided that I should have PBDJ formally publish this story for posterity.

I have been asked many times by various clients, students, and the IT curious about PowerBuilder: When did Sybase develop the product and how did it evolve? I keep telling this story and answering e-mails on the subject. I am now to the point where I have decided that I should have PBDJ formally publish this story for posterity.

PowerBuilder History - A Canadian Perspective With An Aussi Twist. I have been asked many times by various clients, students, and the IT curious about PowerBuilder: When did Sybase develop the product and how did it evolve? I keep telling this story and answering e-mails on the subject. I am now to the point where I have decided that I should have PBDJ formally publish this story for posterity.

PowerBuilder History - A Canadian Perspective With An Aussi Twist. I have been asked many times by various clients, students, and the IT curious about PowerBuilder: When did Sybase develop the product and how did it evolve? I keep telling this story and answering e-mails on the subject. I am now to the point where I have decided that I should have PBDJ formally publish this story for posterity.

PowerBuilder History - A Canadian Perspective With An Aussi Twist. I have been asked many times by various clients, students, and the IT curious about PowerBuilder: When did Sybase develop the product and how did it evolve? I keep telling this story and answering e-mails on the subject. I am now to the point where I have decided that I should have PBDJ formally publish this story for posterity.

PB was a great experience in my career. I was introduced to PB after a large Knowledgeware project where we faced porting the project to MicroFocus Cobol or PB3. At the time PB was the on-ramp to Windows programming for thousands of Cobol\CICS mainframe developers. Everything was about Client-Server in the early 90's.

I'll always remember the 1996 Orlando Conference. I think 5000 attended, sessions were packed to the back wall. PFC was the talk of the community.

Chris--thank you so much for this walk down memory lane. PowerBuilder was very good to me and I loved using it and being involved in it. I was the first editor-in-chief of the PBDJ and it was a wild and crazy time back in the early 90s at PB shot out like a rocket. Because of PB I was able to travel the world teaching and consulting and I have fond memories of the whole PB community. The DataWindow still rocks.

After PB I moved to SilverStream and eventually worked for Dave Litwack as CTO. He is truly an app dev visionary and has a real feel for getting "real apps" built vs. theory.

As for Kim, he's doing what he loves and he's having a great time.

Thanks again for sharing!

--Steve Benfield

Can you please provide a reference to the research that "stated that 60% of all U.S. companies that started a Java project last year canned it"

Thanks

Interesting...I'd like to hear more about your PB9 vs. VB.NET story! And also maybe from Kim Sheffield about why he moved to .NET.