Though I know nothing of ChiliSoft, I've programmed in dBase since the days of version 2. The DOS versions were 2, 3, 3+, 4, and 5. Later versions were developed as Windows-compatible applications. I still use version 5 for DOS with many legacy applications, and I consider version 5 as the oldest and only version I would for DOS. And that program is already 8 or 9 years old, not obsolete, but mostly used to keep running LAGACY applications.
Frankly, dBase IV must be at least 10 years old. It is quite limited by today's standards since it runs in a DOS enviroment and is totally unaware of other environments in which it may be running, such as Windows. Also it has no support at all except for limited help on sites such as this. Once Microsoft switched to promoting their Windows/GUI software, they have, in my firm belief, refused to make any enhancements or improvements to the DOS environment. (Oh, how I would love for a way to cut-and-paste text between DOS and GUI applications!)
The "DOS" window has been renamed as the "Command Prompt" and now with Windows 2000 and XP that window is not really running native DOS but an emulation or variation of it. (I have one simple program (a file viewer, not dBase) that ran lightning fast in native DOS but on 2000/XP it is literally slower than molassas.
For that reason I'd strongly recommend you reserve DOS programs for maintaining older legacy programs, and if at all possible wite new applications in newer programming environments. Unless you absolutely need the DOS environment for a specific reason, use dBase SE or visual dBase 5.7 available from
Visual FoxPro is also a popular alternative, among others. If ChiliSoft can use DBF tables, you may not need dBase since VFP can also read and write those xBase tables.
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