Is dBase Dead? - by Delphi Critic
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Is dBase Dead?<br>Should dBase make a fork for WordPress to use dBase files? Customers cannot activate nor contact support.
Delphi Critic<br>Jun 29, 2026
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dBase LLC’s website recently disappeared for several weeks. It eventually came back - but customers continue to report licensing and support problems.<br>dBase for WordPress?
A database company should be showcasing its own technology.<br>Thanks for reading Delphi Nightmares Substack! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.
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Instead, the dBase website appears to run on an aging WordPress 5.9 installation using the long-discontinued Pressive theme from Thrive.
Photo credit: Inspectwp.com/ dBase<br>… and theme-detector websites report on what theme dBase.com is using.
Photo credit: whatthemedetector.com/ dbase<br>The site also appears to rely on outdated plugins. Several are no longer available from the WordPress plugin directory, while others have not been updated for years, including Easy Tooltip, J Shortcodes, and Max Slider.
Photo credit: Inspect WP
Photo credit: Inspect WP<br>The trial request form also appears to generate server-side errors when submitted.
If a platform cannot reliably power its own business, it raises uncomfortable questions about why anyone else should trust dBase?<br>dBase Customers Cannot Activate
Ironically, dBase is an offline database system whose copy-protection periodically calls home to online license servers. When those servers are unavailable, paying customers—not pirates—are locked out.
Customers also report difficulty contacting support. The support hotline still contains instructions dating back to the COVID-19 era, and some users report receiving no response to licensing and activation requests. Others say their support requests go unanswered or that legitimate problems are dismissed.<br>Reliable software requires reliable support.
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