[plug] SQL question

[Colin Muller]

> Why not use a PostgreSQL back end, and a Perl front end?
> 
> If a Windows platform is needed for the front end, there is
> ActivePerl for Windows. 
> 
> That way, it should also make the migration to a web interface
> simpler, shouldn't it?
> 
> From my understanding, using the more direct Perl interface (to
> PostgreSQL), rather than going via ODBC, would increase efficiency.

It all depends on how big a step the programmers are willing to take.
If they currently program in VB to ODBC, then plugging in a back-end
(like Postgres with ODBC) which enables them to carry on doing that is
the most user-friendly approach. As ever in the Linux story, starting
with the backend like this leads inexorably to changes in the middle
layer as well, and then much, much later, at the front end; but trying
to get people to do it all at once is likely to disrupt their business
and provide too many reasons for them to tell you the change belongs
in the too-hard basket.

Colin