A combination of higher-level usability, more and better features, poor strategic decisions by Borland, and support from Microsoft, meant that Access quickly overtook Paradox in the desktop-database market. By that time, another crucial competitor had emerged: Microsoft’s own Access. The finished product was made available in 1993. In 1990, development began on Paradox for Windows, which was markedly different from the DOS version. Paradox’s main rivals at this time were dBase and FoxPro. The early versions won accolades for their excellent illustrations and documentation, which made it easy for newbies to learn the application quickly. Both version were available for the dominant desktop operating system of the time, MS-DOS.
In 1987, following the acquisition of the Ansa Software company by software giant Borland, Paradox v2.0 was released. The first version of Paradox was developed as result of work done by developers Richard Schwartz and Robert Shostak. Ansa Software was purchased by Borland in 1987, and today Paradox is one of the smaller RDBMS offerings, although one with a dedicated group of users and supporters.
