Has any date been set for the release of V8.6 or has it been sidelined to get V9 out?

The reason that I ask is that I need to use ReadFromFile - It is frustrating to see that something exists that matches my requirements but is only available in the next release which has been paused/delayed/sidelined, apparently for some time.

Hi Peter.

The function MemoReadFromFile() will do the same thing. 

in 8.x there is a separation between text fields and Memo fields which is why there is a double set of functions i.e. MemoReadFromFile() and ReadFromFile().

This is due to an old limitation that has been there forever.

Pre 8.0 you could not manipulate Memo fields which is why we set out to create a number of Memo functions to make this big storage class more more useful. 

Between 8.5 and 8.6 we started a lot of structural changes amongst them the removal off this limitation.

8.6 however landed somewhat in limbo as we had broken a big barrier but only partially so we decided to scrap 8.6 and concentrate on DE9.

In DE9 there is no longer any difference between Memo and Text fields. All Text functions support up to 4gb so you can for instance do 
Firstc(MyMemo,200000) and get the 200.000 first characters in a memo. You can also do concat(memo1,memo2,memo3,text,date,memo5 etc).

another new thing is 
Define "myMemovar" memo . -- in DQL.

The reason DE9 has taken longer than many have wanted is that we don't need another DFW but a new DataEase that fulfill all the expectations to a DataEase in 2021.

In 8.0-8.5 DataEase moved further ahead then from DFD to DE7.2 and from 8.5 to DE9 this has more than doubled again and we are not even finished.

We are sorry that this take time but DE9 is a new DataEase and not simply an step up from DE8.

MemoReadFromFile will hopefully suffice - It does work currently but I was hoping to be able to utilise the 4GB promised in ReadFromFile to be on the safe side.