[CS-FSLUG] Church Management Software

[EnzoAeneas]

organization and faster access. Information in text files much be read
in order, so searching is terribly slow and inefficient; storage of
large quantities of data in this manner quickly becomes unweildly.
Databases are not only able to deal with larger quantities of data,
searching and find what is needed is far easier and faster (though not
as simple). Some databases even allow storing of their records in text
files, but that is a limited solution and the text files may not be
very usable by a normal person.

Storage to files in plain text can be implemented as backup or export
quite easily when databases are used, so if text files are useful in
some other way to the user, they can be provided. The creation of
reports and summaries would be necessary anyway, so readable text
files would be generated by the applications.

As for cost, many popular databases are not only free to use, but open
source and licensed to be free forever. Postgresql is one them.
The plan was to use all free and open source software for this, so
that corporate interests and greed could not interfere with the
project and GOD's work through it.

That was a good question. Any other concerns?

Kevin

On Tue, Apr 8, 2008 at 6:07 PM, Robert Wohlfarth <rbwohlfarth at gmail.com> wrote:
> "Micah Yoder" <yoderm at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > I like to advocate simply using PostgreSQL and forget about
>  > abstraction, because:
>  > * It has as many features as any open source engine
>  > * It has a VERY strong community and is NOT going away
>  > * It is multi-platform
>  > * It has a rich feature set ... transactions, ACID, schemas, boatloads
>  > of built in types and functions, storable procedures in many
>  > languages, now full-text search
>  > * It has a BSD license, allowing it to be used with software of any
>  > license
>  > * It is not tied to the whims of a single company
>  > * It has a very sane user/role/permission structure (unlike others ...
>  > *cough* MySQL *cough*)
>
>  What are the advantages of a database like Postgresql over text files?
>  A lot of the commercially available packages use databases. But I don't
>  understand the value for the cost.
>
>  --
>  Robert Wohlfarth
>  rbwohlfarth at gmail.com
>
>  Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find;
>  knock and the door will be opened to you. -- Matthew 7:7
>
>
>
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