Hi Sue
It is a fair question. The difference is that Inaport provides extensive business logic on the _contact1 table, but none on the CONTACT1 table. For example, Inaport will automatically populate the CREATEBY and CREATEDATE fields when _contact1 is used, but not if CONTACT1 is used.
This difference is even more apparent when you look at tables such as _details and _email. These tables do not actually exist in a GoldMine database; they both map to the CONTSUPP table, but with very different business logic in place.
The "raw" tables are left in place because there are rare circumstances where a user might want to avoid the business logic and do their own thing with the tables, but this then means they are responsible for ensuring that they maintain the business integrity of the data. This is not easy or for the faint of heart.
So in summary, use the _xxx tables unles you *really* know what you are doing; and even then, ask twice whether you really need to go to the raw database.
HTH
Regards
Admin