New Releases Move the Target

The two products that finished last in our comparison--PowerBuilder and SQLWindows--aren't standing still. Powerful new versions of both will likely be out when you read this.

Gupta considers its new release so important that it's giving both the company and the product the same new name: Centura. Actually, Centura will be a family of products. Centura Team Developer offers component-based application development, database access, and team development support. Centura Application Server is specifically designed for three-tier development and application partitioning. Centura Ranger manages data replication for easier deployment of decen tralized applications, and Cen tura Web Data Publisher takes aim at the World Wide Web. Centura Team Developer is $4995, with discounts for current SQLWindows customers. Centura Web Data Publisher and Centura Application Server are scheduled to ship in the second or third quarter.

PowerBuilder 5.0 offers what Powersoft calls "practical application partitioning." PowerBuilder 4.0 already has the ability to create nonvisual user objects--custom-designed components, such as windows with fields and scripts that you can copy between applications--that work in the background and return results to a visual component. Version 5.0 takes the next logical step, allowing you to move these nonvisual objects to a remote server. Powersoft claims there is virtually no learning curve for developers already familiar with nonvisual user objects.

Version 5.0 also has Object-Cycle, a server-based object management system that supports multiple versioning, plus a compiler for improved performance. Other enhancements include OLE 2.0 automation for both clients and servers, Windows 95 functionality, an improved script editor, and an object browser. While these enhancements are extensive, they bring PowerBuilder only up to functional parity with its competitors.