"We have Rochade installed along with the ASG Web access toolkit, and frankly we are not very happy with it. Can you tell me how much Roaccess is, and more information on the capabilities of the tool?"

This is an email we recently received from a Canadian company, which is quite typical. 

The ASG WEB Access browser in the opinion of many is extremely incomplete.  ASG browser owners are again being told that they should wait even longer until the many missing pieces of the ASG WEB Access Toolkit are added.   They are also being told the their browser may change significantly once again, so any applications you write now may have to be re-written and your users will have to re-learn it! 

It appears the ASG WEB Access Toolkit is for companies that have few current needs, can wait a long time and don't mind incompatible future systems and like large amounts of training.  It was available in early 2000, had little capability and stayed that way for two years!  Customers who were waiting to improvements did not get them.  They never got the help they needed.   (So many bought RoAccess, and are pleased they did.)  The smart ones purchases RoAccess from the start.

We believe this means that conservative companies that have mission critical needs cannot seriously consider the ASG WEB browser.

There have been serious deficiencies in Web Access related busses/scanners where users were expected to pay for interim fixes even though they had ASG support.  We provide related utilities for free.  Why should you pay for support and pay again when it isn't there?

RoAccess, on the other hand, has been full featured for years, is constantly adding new features, and has legendary compatibility with prior versions.  Even recently when ASG's WEB program was given free to the US Dept. of Defense and TXU (one of the 10th largest energy companies in the world), they both still chose to purchase RoAccess instead.

The comments on this page are our opinions.  You can decide their validity for yourself.

Note: We will use the term ASG to collectively refer to ASG and Viasoft, as Viasoft is ASG, now.

In depth Experience of the personnel of August

Technical excellence of RoAccess

Over the last few years, because of the two takeover attempts of Viasoft by Compuware and then ASG, a great number of key technical people have left ASG.  In the US they currently have hardly any  in-house consultant who can be assigned to help you and support the product in the field.  And he is already swamped with other engagements.  Any others will be new hires having little experience with Rochade, and you know Rochade takes a good while to master.  Also since the incomplete ASG WEB Access product is relatively new, they don't won't much experience with it, either. 

Summarizing this, ASG has extremely complex WEB products with almost no consultants to help you with your mission critical systems.  We feel most companies will continue to consider this an unacceptable risk.

We feel  WEB Access is too complicated, too limited, insufficiently documented and be very hard to use.  This may sound like a harsh statement, but just look at Autopilot, the WEB toolkit, EdgeworX and WEB Access.  Every time ASG was attempted to provide a marketable WEB product, it either failed outright or had unfavorable results.  All this time, RoAccess was on the market meeting their customer's needs.

A question you should ask of ASG is to talk to 20 or 30 highly satisfied companies that are users of their WEB product, who have stable, customized  systems in production work.  RoAccess has no such difficulty.
 

August:

The August staff has been using Rochade since 1993, without interruption.  That is going on 12 years.  We have more Rochade experience than the vast majority of the ASG people.  That says a lot for itself. 

Also RoAccess has been in use since 1993 That is 9 years of adding features and fine tuning, which makes for an extremely mature and powerful product.   The list of customers who have allowed us to publish letters of recommendation shows this to be true.

Remember, at the last Rochade User's Group meeting in Boston, over half the presenters used RoAccess.    When ASG presented recently to the DAMA convention on the US West Coast, the advanced Rochade usage they displayed for project management, email management and document dissemination were done at Verizon (large US telecom) using RoAccess!  ASG knows RoAccess works and adds to the power of their Repository in areas they are not strong in.
 

Conclusion:

Would you want few people with  little Rochade or  ASG WEB Access experience to be behind your mission critical systems?  Or would you rather people with 8 years experience with an extremely mature, advance WEB system, with satisfied Fortune 500 companies and large governments all over the world?  Of course.

And remember, when ASG removed their failed WEB tool, EdgeworX, from their product list, ASG paid August to replace ALL their US "EdgeworX" WEB products, with our RoAccess!   This includes companies like Qwest, Wells Fargo, Verizon and the US Army, to name a few.  Even then ASG had problems with their own WEB software.

RoAccess is the clear answer.

A. August is a million dollar, custom software developer and consulting firm since 1986.  One of our clients, Exxon-Mobil, purchased a Rochade Repository in 1993 and asked us to manage it for them.   We quickly found that the ASG front end, Autopilot, was not suitable.  So we created what be believe to be one of the first commercial dynamic WEB systems in the world.  It used some of the first releases the CERN WEB server and Mosaic browser.  It made Rochade access extremely easy.  We incorporated the very first release of Netscape 1.0!

In 1996 we offered to sell our WEB access system to R&O, the original German developers of Rochade.  They were not interested, because they already had Autopilot, which is not WEB enabled, and felt the WEB was not their market.  If R&O had purchased RoAccess then, they would have been the very first Repository with WEB access, even before Oracle.

So we began selling RoAccess ourselves, and of course using it in our consulting business.  We knew what it needed to have to make new application building quick, flexible and powerful.  To that end, we added RoLoader and RoPages to the RoAccess Product Family.  Today, 9 years later, the RoAccess Product Family is used by the largest companies and governments all over the world, allowing companies to make the most of their Rochade Repositories. 

We are a world-wide development, consulting and support company.

Q: Which browser has been available longer
A: RoAccess.  RoAccess was first operational in late 1993.  ASG's Version 1 latest attempt was 2000.

Q: My company is quite conservative.  Which is the better choice?
A: RoAccess.  Most Rochade customers who purchased their prior ASG browsers were very sorry, and lost time and money.  This was bad for their company, and it probably made their department look bad as well.   RoAccess has nothing but successes.  Look at all the customer comments and testimonials on our WEB site.  These are from all over the world.

So far, every company that completed an evaluation of RoAccess, decided to purchase it.  Every one!  Our customers are the largest companies and governments in the world, and they are quite conservative.

Q: Why is that?
A: The longer a product is out, the more mature and full functional and reliable it becomes.   When you see all the advanced features RoAccess has, it's an easy decision.

Would you like to bet the success of your project and job security to a WEB system that is relatively new?  Probably not.

Q: Which is easier to Install?
A: RoAccess.  If you read the "WEB Access Installation Manual", you have so many components (which incidentally have to all be compatible with each other) you will wonder if it is worth the hassle.  RoAccess, on the other hand, is easy to install by merely unzipping files and making a few lines of configuration entries..  This is because it runs with EVERY WEB server ever tested.  It does not require a JSP engine. It does not require a Java Runtime Environment (JRE), it does not require installation of class files into your JRE.  It does not require any special plugins.  It does not require any special WEB server modules. With RoAccess, you basically copy the files and you are up!

Q: Which is the easier to Maintain?
A: Easy. RoAccess.  And this is really important.  The overall life cycle costs of a product can really eat your budget if you are not careful.  RoAccess is "support friendly", and you can almost basically forget about it.

Take a look at he ASG WEB Access Manual.  It says every time you upgrade your server they recommend you should upgrade your WEB Access, too.   This is a lot to upgrade.    And there are all those separate components.  You can only use one C compiler, not probably your favorite or company standard one, to create dlls or Unix shared libraries.    Then you should re-compile and link with the new APIs.  And you have to remember to how to do all these steps.  If you want to move WEB Access from one WEB server on say NT to another on Unix, you will probably have to switch from from one JSP model to another and to to make sure the new WEB server is compatible.  On the other Hand, RoAccess is compatible with ANY common WEB server.

With RoAccess, you can forget upgrading it.  We have had several users upgrade Rochade several times of a period of a couple of years, and never thought to upgrade RoAccess.  That is because RoAccess is independent of Rochade for its communications to the Rochade Server!  Upgrade Rochade, but not RoAccess. Also, you upgrade RoAccess by typically just unzipping files, regardless if Unix or Windows.  No install program, and no other components to keep in sync.
 

Q: You said "ASG's latest WEB Browser".  What does that mean?
A: ASG's 2 or 3 prior browser attempts were failures.  Depending how you count, their current attempt is their 3rd of 4th try at a WEB browser.

They first had "WEB Tool kit".  This was read only, had extremely limited functionality, and required a great deal of work to get running at all.  It hardly sold at all.  It was unbelievable that ASG thought anyone would want read-only Repository access.

The second one was called "EdgeworX".  It was read and update.  However, it had a great number of limitations, like the one browser it would support and which few WEB servers it would run under.  The development environment was only Windows.  It was very poorly architect, and extremely difficult for the user to try to modify or create a new application.  In early 1999 it was no longer able to support the new versions of the Rochade server.  In mid-1999 Viasoft decided to "remove it from the market".   This left all the companies that purchased EdgeworX stranded with a non-working and non-supported WEB system. 

There were several large companies that were threatening to sue to get their money back for the entire Rochade systems they had purchased, because they had been promised Rochade was WEB enabled, which it wasn't.

ASG's second WEB browser had likewise failed.

ASG paid us, August Computing, to replace their failed browser, with RoAccess.   We did this with a great many of ASG's customers.  Every one of these is still a customer, and quite happy.

As for the third failed attempt, at the last Rochade User Conference in Boston, USA, in September of 1999, ASG demonstrated their new WEB browser, and said it was in beta.  Since RoAccess was demonstrated there also, it was obvious that their "new" browser looked a lot like RoAccess.  That browser was never released.

So there have been 3 prior attempts for ASG to try to get a WEB browser to market.   Now they are trying it yet again.
 

Q: Is it true that ASG considered purchasing RoAccess to use themselves?
A: In 1999 two different Rochade product managers flew into Dallas to discuss this, one from London.   Because of company politics, the Rochade developers in Germany insisted they make their own browser, again.  This again was "build not buy", and the ASG users were told to continue to wait for their "next" WEB browser.  This is important.  ASG users in 1999 are being told to be patient for the the arrival of the ASG WEB system.  It's here now, and many feel it's disappointing.

Q; Is it true ASG itself has copies of RoAccess in France and Australia?
A: Yes it is.  We have special written agreements with ASG so they can support their clients who demanded RoAccess and are using RoAccess. 

Even though ASG's latest browser was available, Viasoft Australia chose to use RoAccess instead to correct a shortcoming of the ASG EPM product.   One of the long time shortcomings of Rochade was the 32 character limitation on a unique key.  EPM, a very nice graphical Windows tool, knew this, implemented a way to store a longer names in a special way, that unfortunately was not compatible with Autopilot.  However EPM is Windows only, and has no WEB access.  The Australian Government wanted WEB access.   RoAccess has had "long identifiers" for years.  So Viasoft Australia modified the RoAccess routines that processed long identifiers to use the scheme used by EPM.  It worked perfectly, and only took them about 10 days to modify RoAccess!  What is interesting to note is that the latest ASG browser was available then, but ASG chose not to use it.  Why?  We can only guess.  We believe it was because ASG knows that everyone is aware that RoAccess is a very solid and reliable system.  Did they want to deliver a system created with an unproven product to an important client?  We don't think so. 
 

Q; Is Unlimited Users and Unlimited Servers Important?
A: Extremely!  Back when ASG was considering RoAccess to become their own product, the one thing that kept recurring was their interest in being able to limit the number of concurrent users so they could charge a per user license fee, as they do for their proprietary Autopilot GUI.  If ASG ever decides to start charging by the WEB users, it may cost you a great deal, because the WEB is the medium of choice today and the foreseeable future.  We have customers whose Rochade users number in the thousands.  You definitely do not want to be charged per user.

Also, when you purchase Rochade, you are limited on what platforms you can run your Rochade server.  If you purchase a Unix license, it is only for THAT version of Unix, like HP/UX.  You are not given the binaries to AIX and Solaris.  You are not given the binaries for NT or Windows 98 either.  Each of these platforms are considered separate products.  Also if you want to run multiple servers on different platforms of the same operating system, it is questionable if there are additional fees due.  If you want to have a development, test and production set of servers, ASG may charge you a license per each, not not RoAccess.

All this means you future Rochade expenses are uncertain and your ability to move to different platforms or simultaneous platform is questionable or expensive.

RoAccess, however, makes it much simpler.  There never has been a per user fee, and has always been unlimited users.  You can also have unlimited RoAccess servers on different platforms, as many as you want.  When you receive RoAccess, you get the system for all Unix's, NT, Windows 2000 and Window 98 at the same time.  You can have RoAccess servers on all these platforms running at the same time, for no additional charge.  If you have separate development, test and productions servers, in separate cities or even separate countries, there is no additional RoAccess license fee.

This means your future RoAccess license costs are zero.  That's very easy to budget.

We have customers that each have RoAccess Rochade users in the thousands.  They also have multiple RoAccess installations and even on notebook computers.  All this cost them nothing extra.  But try to estimate the cost if they had to pay ASG for thousands of users and multiple installations.  There goes your department budget!

Which would you rather have?
 

Q: Are the majority of your sales outside the US?
A: That is true.  That is why we made RoAccess language independent.  Anyone can add their own language to RoAccess in about 3 days all by themselves.  We felt the greatest growth area for Rochade was outside the US, and that appears to be true. 
 

Q: Do you support the German language?
A:  Yes.  We have had a lot of help from our German customers, too, in how best to support them.  You can have Itemtypes, Items and data using umlauts.  When sorting Items we sort placing umlauts in a logical sorting sequence, such as ß is sorted as "ss", ä  is sorted as "a", etc.   Also the German language files, just as all the other languages supported, can be tailored to match regional dialects or phraseologies.  Also there is only ONE version of RoAccess, and it supports all languages, where you can switch languages at run time!  This is important.  When you install Rochade clients or servers, you have to answer if the installation is English or German.  Not with RoAccess.  It is only ONE system that configures itself for each user at run-time.

Q: Will you really accept Customer Support Email and Phone Calls at absolutely any time of day or night, including weekends, like to match the working hours for South Africa, Europe, Australia, etc.?
A: Yes.   Our goal is to provide same day solutions and answers, usually within hours of the request.  If you look at our Customer Comments Form, you will see how pleased our foreign customers are to receive such immediate responses.  Click here to see them.  Our most common compliment is we usually provide better support than local suppliers, and we are 1/2 way around the world.  But distance really does not matter in today's world.  What does matter is we are only a phone call or email away, and that takes only minutes.  Including weekends.
 

Q: Which is better: Perl or JSP?
A: We feel there is no question. It is Perl. 

Here are the reasons:

The primary reason is overall life cycle costs to develop, extend and maintain your applications.  JSP is a moving target, and all the changes will cost you a fortune in time and money in the long term.  We feel JSP is like trying to build a tall building in the midst of an earthquake.  If you frequently have to replace your JSP engine, WEB server and Java JDK's and try to keep all of them compatible with other, you will spend a lot of time and energy.  Also, all you need to determine if JSP is stable is to look at all the WEB magazines and WEB sites that are offering solutions to solve its weaknesses and difficulties.  They keep reminding you that JSP requires you to mix display style and content, not a desirable thing to do.

In short, we believe ASG chose "high technology and high cost" compared to RoAccess' "proven technology and lower long term costs".  In a complex changing world, simplicity and  lower life cycle costs are much more important.  With RoAccess you get power, simplicity and compatibility at the same time.

Perl:

There are more Perl programmers than JSP programmers.  That means Perl programmers are more available and cost less.  About 85% of the DHTML WEB is Perl driven, and has about 10 years of longevity.  This means the average Perl programmer knows the WEB already.

Perl is a simple language, an a relatively small number of library functions.  This makes Perl easier to learn.  It makes maintaining your custom applications easier, because it is cheaper to train subsequent personnel.

Perl will run on ANY platform (any Unix, NT, Windows 98, etc.)  It will run on ANY WEB server.  This means you can switch platforms and operation systems, and your RoAccess perl system will keep running, unmodified.  This makes for very low long term costs.  It also gives you a lot of flexibility in a quickly changing world.

Perl systems comes in source form.  Having the source code to RoAccess is wonderful. There is no compiling.  there is no storing classes in the proper directory structure hierarchy like Java.  Just make the text change with an editor, and you are finished.  You can add new common routines the same, fast way.  Make a change, hit reload, and you immediately see your changes.  You can also do development on your Windows notebook computer, and then simply copy your application file to your final platform, like Unix or NT.  This is simplicity and flexibility.

JSP:

JSP programmers are relatively new, and scarce.  Just look at how much you have to pay for them, and they are in short supply.  This will cost your budget much more.

To use JSP, you will have to learn all the Java classes (and there a zillion of them), plus all the ASG new JSP classes and procedures.  This is a lot to learn.  If you are in a hurry to build your custom applications, JSP is not for you.  Also the long term maintenance costs for maintaining your custom applications is higher, because it is more complicated.

Not all operating systems and not all WEB servers support JSP yet.  First you have to find and install a JSP engine that is compatible with your version of your WEB server.  You might not be able to use your current company standard WEB server, because it may not be compatible with the needed JSP engine.  Since JSP is changing with new versions, you will doubtless have to upgrade to new WEB servers to be compatible.  If ASG goes to a new version of JSP, then so will you, which may take you a lot of time.  Do you really want to be faced with all these upgrades (which may not be compatible with other components)?

When new versions of the Rochade server come out, most of the time you need to also install new versions of Autopilot.  This is a real expense and time consuming operation.  JSP talks directly to the Rochade server.  It is quite likely, as you receive new Rochade servers in the future,  you may have to upgrade your JSP system, too. 

JSP takes longer to develop.   Your development platform may have to be identical to your production one.  Can you develop on a Windows 98 notebook and then quickly move your application to Unix or NT.  Probably not.  You will have to keep track of source code, and new classes you create, and where to store them.  This is a lot to have to remember.  If you are creating a library of common routines, you will have to edit the file, then compile it, copy the class libraries and then test.  With perl, you edit the file, and immediately test.  Nothing is faster for development.

Q: Which is faster: Perl or JSP
A: In 98% of the cases Perl.  This is because execution time is not the only kind of speed.  Many times, the wait is determined by the Repository.

One normally thinks JSP is faster because it is a compile one time system.

First of all, Perl can be converted to fast executables with a simple utility.  Most aren't aware of this.   We also provide another utility that converts RoAccess screens into smaller, fast running single Perl files.  We have several levels of optimization.  On Unix we have screens that are daemons that sit in memory, already compiled,  waiting to be run.  This is instantaneous.  Most RoAccess screens run in about 1/4 second on modern systems.  Do you need screens that load in less that 1/4 second?  One multiprocessor Sun was running 100 screens per second.  Perl is quick.

Secondly, most real world accesses and applications have the Repository taking longer to return the information that the WEB page takes to load.   You may frequently hear "Rochade is slow".  A real world access may require several path reports, a lot of specific data merging and formatting, and such, that can easily take minutes to 1/2 hour or more.   This means page loading may only be .01% of the overall time.  So why try to optimize what is not the problem?   If the front end is faster than the database, there is no real benefit by trying to make the front end faster.  It is better to make it more cost efficient overall.

Since most companies want to get as many custom applications up as fast as possible, Perl is the clear winner.  85% of all the dynamic WEB applications and sites are done in Perl for a reason.  Most companies prefer much faster and cheaper development, and chose the one with less cost.  Also the capabilities of Perl are legendary.  High technology is nice, but lower overall life cycle costs are much better.   For example: which would be more important to you:

A screen that takes 1/8 second to run but takes 10 times longer to create using JSP and Java

A screen that takes 1/4 second to run, but in the same time you can do one JSP application, you can do 5-10 Perl ones?

Q: Is JSP stable?
A: Not Yet.

We received this email from http://www.javaworld.com, which we subscribe to.  It does not paint a pretty picture for JSP:

The Subject of the email was:  JavaWorld This Week -- Fix JSP problems

Here is one quote:

Though a powerful technology, JavaServer Pages aren't perfect. JSP code can quickly become a mix of various HTML tags, JSP tags, and Java code 
that is difficult to follow, debug, and maintain. This week, JavaWorld authors offer two suggestions to these problems:

Anyone who wants to commit their budget and deadlines to JSP had better read this. 
 

Q: An ASG representative said unfavorable things about RoAccess.
A: This is a fact of life, and has been happening for years.

Remember, that ASG has their own interest in which WEB system you purchase.  They know RoAccess' good reputation.  In 2000 ASG sold many copies of RoAccess as line items on the customers purchase orders stressing its capabilities.    ASG has had a bad track record for Rochade WEB systems, and has to say something to convince you otherwise. 

If you have questions, please feel free to contact us and ask the questions directly.  You will get a quick, truthful and complete response.  Send them to support @ roaccess.com.
 

Q; Can ASG Adequately Support their New Browser?
A: We feel, not at this time.

There has been a lot of turnover in ASG.  The majority of their highly experiences customer engineers are no longer with the company.  When you talk to a ASG consultant, ask them how long they have been with ASG and how many years of Rochade and the "WEB  Access product" experience they have.  The ASG Australia office had just about everyone quit.  Likewise Canada.  Currently all but one of the US customer engineers are gone.  So the replacements are new to Rochade.  Rochade by itself is quite complex, as you are already aware.  If you add learning a new browser and all the related WEB technologies to that, there will be very limited help that will be available to meet your custom WEB application development for perhaps a year. 

Also like any new product, the ASG browser should be continually changing, because it has a lot of features it needs to be competitive with RoAccess.   This means their customer reps and consultants will be in a constant learning mode, and so will you.  RoAccess on the other hand is well documented, with a great number of examples, and over 600 pages and images of documentation.

Most people really want real world, concrete examples.  That is one thing typically missing in all Rochade manuals.  RoAccess on the other hand has dozens of highly document (on the WEB and with free multimedia videos) to help make your job easier.  RoAccess users share their experiences with others, and everyone benefits.  How much sharing do you see with ASG?
 

Q: Does August Computing (creator of RoAccess) dislike Java?
A: We love Java, especially server-side Java.

We feel that there are a lot of applications where Java is the perfect choice.  We also feel there are many applications where Java is a poor choice.

For instance, Verizon (super large US telecom) contracted with August to create their 2-Way Interactive Paging WEB Site.  This is a super high performance, high volume, critical application.  We did it in Server-Side Java.  Click here to see it.  If you do a VIEW/SOURCE on it, you will see two of our names on that page: Andrew Fullford and John Scott (jmscott) and our custom source control system. (This system does not use Rochade.) When Verizon wanted solid, high performance for the missions critical systems, they chose us, August. 

Likewise, Ford Motor Company (US auto maker) recently chose August to do one of the mass media Internet WEB sites.  Again, we chose server-side Java.

When POPMAIL needed dot com developers, they contracted with August to create their customizable, productized free email and free WEB server product.  Again, we did it in Java.  They paid us $800,000 to develop their system.  In less than a year they sold POPMAIL for $20 million USD.  Try it: http://www.popmail.com There are over 1000 radio and TV stations in the US using the private labeled POPMAIL product.  (This system does not use Rochade.)

When it comes to Java, we are experts.  We were giving Java programs to the Dallas Java Users Group and Dallas Unix Users Group way before Java became popular.  But we use Java only when it makes sense.

Java and Rochade do not make sense.  Maybe sometime, but not now.

Q: Do you provide custom application development and customization services?
A: Yes, we do.  If you have ever had ASG consultants in, the most common comment we hear is they are there for weeks and cost an incredible amount per day, and what they deliver is disappointing.  We on the other hand, usually finish systems in a matter of days and charge probably less that 1/2 what ASG charges per day.  Less time and lower daily costs.  This is a double win for you.

Q; You stress lower life cycle costs for RoAccess. Explain.
A: Nothing could be lower cost long term than RoAccess.  Here's why.

First, Perl as a development language is extremely stable, and free.  We have had customers use RoAccess for year after year never needing to change RoAccess or Perl or their WEB server.  Even when they were frequently installing new versions of Rochade and Autopilot, they have never had to replace Perl, RoAccess or their WEB server to be compatible.  RoAccess was perhaps the most stable element of their Repository!

RoAccess screens typically take between 2 and 4 hours to create, test, document and deploy, and come with a built in debugger environment..  Most companies can't wait weeks or months for new screens.  They have other important things to do.  They need it fast, reliable and supportable.  They choose RoAccess.

Here is an example.  A different division of Verizon, a large US telecom, added custom applications to their version of RoAccess over two years ago, adding over 10,000 lines of custom code.  It is a magnificent system, and they presented it at the last Rochade User Group Meeting in Boston, US, to show their amazing WEB system.  (Verizon was one of the companies who purchased ASG's EdgeworX but had ASG to pay us to replace it with RoAccess.)  When asked  a question from the meeting by a T. Rowe Price manager, "How many RoAccess developers do you have", the answer was "one, part time."  And that person had no perl or WEB experience to start with.  The audience was stunned that so much could be accomplished, by one person in such a short time.  For a sample, click here and click here.

Two years later Verizon wanted to upgrade to the latest Rochade, which meant new servers, new Autopilots, Repository migrating, etc.  They found their original RoAccess with all their extensions and custom features, still worked perfectly with no changes!   RoAccess, Perl, their WEB server and the Rochade data access were all functioning perfectly with the latest version of Rochade and WEB server. 

They then upgraded their custom applications to the latest version RoAccess, and all the code they wrote two years ago still worked! 

It may be hard to imagine that with all the upgrades you have to do to Rochade, that RoAccess remained compatible with no necessary upgrades.  Install it and forget it, if you want.  For most people, this is hard to imagine.  This is not an accident.  RoAccess was designed to specifically last for long periods of time with very little maintenance. 

How much was their "life cycle costs" to keep their 2 year old RoAccess system running? About zero.  This is probably what you want, too!
 

Q: Do you expect much improvement in ASG's browser?
A: Not really.

If you look at Autopilot over the years, it has stayed basically the same, a hard to use program.   A great deal of time and money has been poured into it, without much success in the end user area.   They added a lot of "features" but these did not seem to be what the users needed.  We believe their WEB browser will probably be more complex, harder to use and have features that may not solve many of the real world user problems either. 

What should concern you is their same developer organization is also making the WEB browser.  It is certain they will add features, but we add features so fast to RoAccess they will keep falling ever further behind.  Remember, EdgeworX was their flagship WEB application system, and ASG had to have August save them by replacing it with RoAccess for so many of their customers when EdgeworX was taken off the market. 

ASG even paid August to convert the user's EdgeworX custom created programs to RoAccess.  What amazed these developers was the what took months with EdgeworX took only a day or two with RoAccess to create the same screens.  All the money and time they wasted!  Do you have time and money to waste?

In the final analysis, you will probably ask yourself: 1) does RoAccess work? and 2) are the users happy?  To answer these questions, just click here.