Best successor to DabbleDB?
September 7, 2010 8:11 AM Subscribe
(Asking on behalf of my wife) I'm looking for an online relational database service. My wife's business has been using DabbleDB, which is a fine service, but since the company was acquired by Twitter for unrelated technology, the future of DabbleDB is uncertain at best. So far Zoho Creator seems like the best alternative, but it's much less appealing than DabbleDB. I've looked at quite a few others, none of which seem ready for prime time. Is there some other online database service that we should be looking at?
Response by poster: She's using it mostly to keep track of some marketing schedules, various requirements and deadlines for professional certifications in different states, also a few other less-critical things.
posted by adamrice at 9:10 AM on September 7, 2010
posted by adamrice at 9:10 AM on September 7, 2010
basecamp
Project management and group collaboration. Awesome stuff.
posted by kryptonik at 9:15 AM on September 7, 2010
Project management and group collaboration. Awesome stuff.
posted by kryptonik at 9:15 AM on September 7, 2010
I recently found this which looks promising: http://www.infodome.com/
But to be honest I haven't tried it yet. Seems to be a bit simpler than DabbleDB but might be worth checking out.
posted by jcmilton at 10:30 AM on September 7, 2010 [1 favorite]
But to be honest I haven't tried it yet. Seems to be a bit simpler than DabbleDB but might be worth checking out.
posted by jcmilton at 10:30 AM on September 7, 2010 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Basecamp is great, but last I checked it's not a relational database.
posted by adamrice at 10:45 AM on September 7, 2010
posted by adamrice at 10:45 AM on September 7, 2010
Full disclosure: I work for Intuit, in the QuickBase Group.
I do think that QuickBase is pretty favorably comparable to DabbleDB. We did have a special offer for DabbleDB switchers, I think - if you are interested, memail me and I can send you the link.
Also, Jane McCarty has independently evaluated a bunch of online DB apps at her blog, Data Driven Web Applications at Work.
posted by Philbo at 11:04 AM on September 7, 2010
I do think that QuickBase is pretty favorably comparable to DabbleDB. We did have a special offer for DabbleDB switchers, I think - if you are interested, memail me and I can send you the link.
Also, Jane McCarty has independently evaluated a bunch of online DB apps at her blog, Data Driven Web Applications at Work.
posted by Philbo at 11:04 AM on September 7, 2010
Basecamp is great, but last I checked it's not a relational database.
I think you need to answer the "what is she doing with it" on a lower level to avoid that kind of confusion. "A private web app written in PHP", perhaps, that kind of answer. What the app does for the user doesn't matter as much as what the app requires from its data store.
posted by mendel at 5:10 PM on September 7, 2010
I think you need to answer the "what is she doing with it" on a lower level to avoid that kind of confusion. "A private web app written in PHP", perhaps, that kind of answer. What the app does for the user doesn't matter as much as what the app requires from its data store.
posted by mendel at 5:10 PM on September 7, 2010
Response by poster: I think you need to trust that when I ask a question, I'm asking the right question.
A private web app written in PHP (or whatever—that's an implementation detail) would be unrealistically expensive to do right. A web-based relational database gives you the flexibility to redefine your data model on the fly, which is a key part of what I'm after.
posted by adamrice at 7:15 PM on September 7, 2010
A private web app written in PHP (or whatever—that's an implementation detail) would be unrealistically expensive to do right. A web-based relational database gives you the flexibility to redefine your data model on the fly, which is a key part of what I'm after.
posted by adamrice at 7:15 PM on September 7, 2010
Adam, I think what we're saying is that DabbleDB is overkill for the things she's using it for. There are probably, if you took the time to look, channel-specific applications that she could be using to accomplish the same things. For instance, instead of a SQL database or an Excel spreadsheet, at work we use the Semantic MediaWiki project to manage our list of physical server clusters and virtual machines and the different connections and dependencies between them.
You either need to broaden the scope of the question (what else besides a relational database would help?) or look at specific application categories (which scheduling app would work for us?) ... so, change the question instead of snapping back at people who are trying to help. :-P
posted by SpecialK at 6:11 PM on September 8, 2010
You either need to broaden the scope of the question (what else besides a relational database would help?) or look at specific application categories (which scheduling app would work for us?) ... so, change the question instead of snapping back at people who are trying to help. :-P
posted by SpecialK at 6:11 PM on September 8, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by SpecialK at 8:21 AM on September 7, 2010