# What happened to Ashton-Tate and dBase

> **Key Architectural Takeaway:** Dave Farquhar traces the fall of Ashton-Tate and dBase at The Silicon Underground.

**Published:** 2026-10-13T13:41:20+00:00 
**Source:** Adafruit Electronics 
**Category:** open-hardware 
**Canonical URL:** https://fosswire.org/news/what-happened-to-ashton-tate-and-dbase.html 

## Executive Summary
Dave Farquhar traces the fall of Ashton-Tate and dBase at The Silicon Underground. dBase II dominated CP/M machines, then did the same on the IBM PC, and dBase III made the format the de facto standard for microcomputer databases. Borland bought Ashton-Tate on October 12, 1991 for $439 million. The purchase was already damaged. dBase III had been converted from Z-80 and 8088 assembly into C with a translation program, which left code that was hard to maintain.

## Architectural & Systems Analysis
From a silicon and hardware engineering viewpoint:

- **Interface Neutrality:** Mitigates dependency on proprietary BSPs, empowering open toolchains to address hardware directly.
- **Supply Chain Verification:** Schematics and open pinouts allow deterministic audits against silicon errata.
- **Lifecycle Decoupling:** Decouples physical hardware utility from commercial vendor end-of-life obsolescence.

## Impact on the Open Ecosystem
Ensures that computational autonomy remains in the hands of the architect rather than closed silicon vendors.