Dr. Mac’s Rants & Raves
Episode #257
Panorama 1.0 by ProVUE Development was first introduced in 1988. The latest version, Panorama X, came out earlier this year, which makes it one of a tiny handful of Mac apps that have survived 25 years or more.
Panorama X: An Innovative Database
Panorama X (like previous versions) combines the best parts of a relational database with the best parts of a spreadsheet. The result is a powerful tool for storing and analyzing any amount of data. Like a spreadsheet and unlike most other databases, Panorama X is 100% RAM-based. That means it can perform searches, sorts, and analysis much more quickly than almost any other Mac database.
Another uniqueness is that Panorama X is the first database program to support universal multi-level undo. That’s huge! It means that virtually anything you do in Panorama X can be undone almost instantly.
Panorama X lets you revert to either the most recently saved version or almost any previously-saved version. And, because it’s a Mac app through and through, it uses the standard macOS Time Machine interface. Sweet!
Of course, Panorama X has all the features you’d expect from a fully relational database: boolean searches, custom layouts, automation, fast bulk data modification, auto-complete, pattern matching, and more. And it includes geographical data, so you can display address data on a map or look up the city or state for a particular zip code.
And, like most of my favorite heavy-duty software, you can customize Panorama X’s toolbars and menus. Plus, you can specify favorites for searches, sorts, and analyses, making them easier to reuse. Another nice touch are the detailed documentation and comprehensive video tutorials built right into the app for fast, easy access.
Finally, there’s an active community of Panorama users (including the developer), available to answer your questions in the Panorama Discussion Forum.
Panorama X: Innovative Pricing Model
There’s a lot to like about Panorama X, but the thing I like most is its innovative pricing. I’m not a fan of subscription software (I’m looking at you Adobe Photoshop and Microsoft Word), where you have to pay every month whether you use the program or not.
You can pay as little as $5 per month to use Panorama X, but the cool and innovative part is that you only pay for months in which you actually use Panorama X! So, if you didn’t use it last month, you won’t pay for that month.
The bottom line is that if you need to manage or manipulate massive amounts of data, check out the 7-day trial of Panorama X. You don’t need to provide a credit card, email address, or anything else to get started, and your 7 trial days don’t even need to be consecutive!
Dave: We agree to disagree. As I said, I’m not a fan of subscription software, but in this case the pricing makes total sense versus the several hundred dollars a copy might go for.
You don’t pay if you don’t use it in a given month, which seems a lot more fair to me than any other subscription offering I’ve seen.
There is literally NO good subscription model for consumers. The only beneficiaries are the writers and distributors of said software. I wish you would not promote this sort of software. In the long run it’s overpriced and insecure.