CP/M and dBASE were industry giants with everything to lose, and they did. For a time they were the power couple to beat.

Two Stop Bits

dBASE II was the dominant relational database software of the CP/M era, capturing 70% market share in 1984. Running on 8-bit systems like the Kaypro II with Z80 processors and 64KB RAM, it offered programmability through its xBase language that empowered non-programmers to build custom database solutions. The article provides a hands-on tutorial covering database creation, field definitions, data entry, queries, joins, indexing, and command file programming. While CP/M's disk format fragmentation and memory constraints were significant limitations, dBASE II's consistent command structure and export capabilities made it a powerful tool for business applications of its time.

dBASE on the Kaypro II