Easysoft Data Access Middleware

The Easysoft OOB client is free for use with any OOB server you have a license for. That means you can install clients on any computer in your office without having to worry about specific licenses. Oddly, you are licensed to use the OOB client only with servers you own and control. You can't use the OOB client to access another company's server. Easysoft's own demonstration application seems to cause people to unwittingly violate the client license. There is also a limitation on incorporating the client in any program or system you receive payment for the use of without written permission. I'm sure that wasn't the intent, but it could possibly be read to say that you need written permission to charge for access to a web page with scripts that use Easysoft's client. This would limit its usefulness in some applications.

Easysoft provides very complete documentation to help you get started doing real work. Included with the software are instructions for getting Apache and PHP installed, or working with Applixware, or Perl DBD::ODBC, or ColdFusion, or a few other commonly used configurations. The FAQ contains a lot of questions, some of which I can't imagine are all that frequently asked. There are also tutorials and sample applications to get you started writing code.

Easysoft maintains a newsgroup for support questions, with technical staff monitoring the group and answering questions.

Easysoft offers a lot to developers who need to add uniform data access to existing programs, or develop data-aware applications for web or client/server deployment. The wide range of both clients and servers allows you to integrate complex networks without writing a lot of special code. Easysoft allows you to download and try out their software before you buy. With their thirty-day trial, you can access all of the features, including multiple database servers. A single-user, single-database license is free for personal use.

The Good/The Bad