| 1. |
A MultiValue database available for both commercial use and as an open source (GPL) product. OpenQM is the only commercially usable MultiValue engine currently available under the General Public License. This means that within the terms of the GPL, openQM can be freely used and distributed. |
| 2. |
Commercial QM has a retail price of just $119 a user ... yes, just $119/user, less than 1/5th the price of some MultiValue engines. Bundled elements, as well as a totally different support philosophy can create differences exceeding 10:1. |
| 3. |
No mandatory annual support. The list price of openQM includes 60 days of free support, as well as 1 year of free upgrades or platform changes. You can purchase additional support from resellers either on an ad hoc basis, or by the hour as appropriate. As an option, for just 30% of the base price, you can purchase a full 10 years of upgrade and platform-change rights. With the absence of mandatory support, QM can cost as little as 1/8th of the effective cost of other MultiValue database engines.
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| 4. |
You can also build high-volume low-cost single-user applications at ultra-low cost. We have worked with the developers of QM to develop a single-user pricing model that makes the development of shrink-wrapped single-user applications viable. Single-user engines are available to developers for as little as $15, or even less.
And with our low-cost Coyote RPC product, these applications don't have to be painfully stand-alone, but rather can share data with other MultiValue databases real-time or batch via encrypted HTTP transfer. Imagine, for instance, stand-alone MultiValue based cash-registers that keep operating even if their parent server crashes. |
| 5. |
Designed and priced for small systems but capable of big ones. OpenQM is generally used on systems with 1 to 500 users. |
| 6. |
Fully featured environment. Begun in 1992, and offered commercially since 2001, openQM is built to the industry standard SMA specification, giving you the same functionality as other MultiValue databases, with a full-featured query-language, MultiValue BASIC, and command-line environment. As importantly, it is also fully user-tested, with more than 1,000 independent systems in use. |
| 7. |
An engine and shell, not a blob. There are two design trends in MultiValue - the environmental approach originally implemented by Dick Pick and favored by "Native" systems and derivatives such as Pick, GA, and UniVision - and the engine approach originally developed by Prime Information and implemented in most other MultiValue systems.
OpenQM is an engine, with a very small footprint comprising less than a megabyte. Thus, it is ideal for cohabitation with other systems, and especially desirable for single-user embedded applications. |
| 8. |
Available for Windows, Linux, BSD, and (soon) Macintosh. |
| 9. |
A re-entrant compiler written in MultiValue BASIC. Marketing copy is supposed to talk about benefits rather than features, but this is one instance where stating the feature is more important. The advantage of this compiler is that people can develop their own extensions for it in MultiValue BASIC. Thus, the openQM environment is suitable for rapid feature growth and direct integration with, and compilation of, other languages. |
