subject: The Free Macintosh Database [print this page] I am a Judgment Broker that writes about a variety of topics. With my job, I do business with many people around the country. As with most businesses, not everyone who contacts us is "ready to buy", because our world is full of window shoppers and tire kickers.
Because our company involves private records, I need total security, and very reliable backup and data recovery, so I don't use PCs very often, and must use Macs for judgment-related work, with my firewall.
I have been using Provue's Panorama database on my Macintosh for about 28 years for every one of my hobbies and businesses. Panorama is a big and powerful database that does absolutely fantastic things at incredible speeds.
However, I figured out recently, that I had been filling up my Panorama database judgment file with lots of of old "stale" leads. Another problem is that when I research and document the hundred important facts required to validate, classify, and characterize every judgment with my primary database, I don't like to interrupt what I'm doing simply to document a new incoming lead telephone call.
I decided that I had to get a second simple and free (or low-cost) database to store leads, in case some of those leads stops shopping, and decides to get results by selecting my company. I tried the database is included with OpenOffice, and for me it was too complicated for my needs. I did a web search for free and simple Mac databases, and discovered EagleData.
EagleData is a simple and free, yet very versatile database that Mr. Bernd Frohlich (from Germany) wrote many years ago for the Atari ST personal computer. Mr. Frohlich then migrated his database to the Macintosh. Bernd's hobby is creating programs, and EagleData is one of his products.
The EagleData database is designed for simple uses, for example storing addresses, CD or music or lead tracking, hobby collections, or any other organizational tasks that do not require a complex database.
EagleData meets my needs perfectly as it's fast, easy to figure out, simple, and useful. In just seconds, I defined my fields. For my requirements, I chose priority, name, email, phone, who referred it, and a large notes field.
Now, when a potential customer emails or calls me with an inquiry (however not yet an order) I just click "add record", type my data in a few fields, and save my data and quit EagleData.
The data file EagleData saves is really small, not much bigger than the text you entered into it. One can back up your database file by dragging it to your USB stick, or with any other backup method.
When a lead turns into a sale, I export that single database record to a text file, and then delete that one record because it has become a real order. I use the exported text file to copy and paste my data to the main Panorama database.
EagleData is fantastic because it is free and very simple to use. If you use a Macintosh, check out http://www.eaglesoft.de/eagle/eagledata.html
