Otto,
When I first started working with Harbour/xHarbour (.com ), the options were RDDCDX, Apollo, and ADS. I received a lot of input and elected to use ADS. They publish an excellent White Paper that made a lot of sense to me. For small installs, we can use ADS local and its free. However, I have clients with poorly behaving equipment ( not well maintained, subjected often to malware by the users, etc ), and ADS seemed to be a good safety alternative. So all of my larger installs are told to consider ADS.
Many of my clients exceed 5 workstations. I don't want to play with configuring their systems, and ADS is quick and easy to install. I tell people to start with the Peer to Peer ( LOCAL ), but when they don't like the performance, I give them a 30 day free trial of ADS. No one complains about the price after they see the performance improvement. For example, in an invoicing section, the program opens six .dbf files, with .fpt's and .cdx's, in a filtered mode. WIth peer to peer, this can be slow. With ADS its instantaneous. Since that is the area they spend the most time in each day, they see the performance boost.
My issue had to do with a resellers account. My account renews in June, and I was one sale short of a free status. Of course that may change before my anniversary date, but they were talking a stiff charge which I was unwilling to pay. That has since been resolved. Other then that issue, I have no problem with ADS.
I do have clients with up to 18 workstations, networked across multiple worksites.
The cost is relative. My clients might not want to pay the expense, but they can afford it. They just would rather spend the money outside of their business needs ! Also, it can be a one time cost. I have people who spent $ 650 US 8 years ago, for a 5 user license, and they have never upgraded it. They still use it to this day. Thats pretty cheap for a business.
You have done some very nice work with your product, and have found a multi-user option that fits your clients. I appreciate that work. However, I just didn't see it as the right solution for my clients.
Tim
http://www.MasterLinkSoftware.com
http://www.autoshopwriter.com
timstone@masterlinksoftware.com
Using: FWH 23.10 with Harbour 3.2.0 / Microsoft Visual Studio Community 2022-24 32/64 bit