Rapidfile database software

This Rapidfile database software is archived here for my personal use. It is presumably covered by copyright and, accordingly, anybody thinking that they might download and use it should contact the copyright holder for permission. The first copyright holder was a company called AshtonTate but that company was absorbed by a company called Borland. Later Borland became something called Inprise but if you go to the Inprise web site you only find Borland so I guess they eventually realised what a daft name Inprise was and have sensibly gone back to being Borland, the company that we all knew and more or less trusted because they gave us good things such as Sidekick and the Turbo C compiler. Exactly where the Rapidfile copyright ended up is anybody's guess but if you want to get your own legitimate copy then Borland is probably the best place for you to begin your quest. However, since the product was most recently released in 1986, you probably shouldn't expect too much.

What this is all about is simply this, I put this archive here for my own use, so that I can get a copy of my favourite database software from wherever I happen to be. I cannot, will not and do not give anybody else the right or permission to use it or copy it because I am not the copyright holder. Consequently although it is entirely possible for you to download and therefore acquire a copy of Rapidfile, you possibly ought not take advantage of this opportunity.

Quite apart from the moral issues that arise concerning possible infringement of copyright, have you considered that this software might have been loaded with nasty malicious virus programs that are going to steal your credit card details and sell them to an evil international gang of gun-toting “bad people” located in a far away country? Have you further considered the humiliation that will be experienced by your parents, spouse, children and pet goldfish when the police knock on your door and drag you and your computer away to be locked-up, publically flogged, guillotined, forced to use Windows ME, or whatever horrible thing it is they do to copyright breakers in your country? Until you have given earnest and diligent consideration to all of these matters I recommend that you don't even dream about downloading this ZIP file that contains a full copy of the Rapidfile database software Version 1.2 in English. If bad things happen, you can't say you weren't warned.

Notes

1. The ZIP file contains three principal directories.
2. One directory contains the archive copies of the original floppy disks. These are stored here because the software was, in 1986, supplied on 5.25 inch diskettes — the sort that really were floppy — and in the year 2005 computers that can read 5.25 inch diskettes are not exactly common. In fact some computers don't even have any diskette drives these days so the need for an online archive has never been greater.
3. One directory contains the files that are typically necessary for a successful installation.
4. One directory contains a backup copy of the principal executable. Why is this? Good question and I truly wish I could remember the answer, but everybody knows that backups are a “good thing”, don't they?
5. The software runs under DOS or in the DOS box of most versions of Windows.
6. Rapidfile can also works perfectly well in conjunction with DOSemu under GNU/Linux.
7. Online reminders and other notes are available concerning the configuration options, the use of Rapidfile in a Linux environment in conjunction with DOSemu, printing from Rapidfile in a Windows environment and other stuff.

If you have a copy of Rapidfile and want to continue to use it then you might want to take a look at a page that offers some simple but very useful DOS utility software that is in the public domain and available free of charge.