Rocky Smolin
rockysmolin at bchacc.com
Mon Jul 1 07:31:20 CDT 2013
I have a copy but haven't had time to evaluate it yet. But Arthur Fuller uses it and really likes it. I don't know if he's monitoring AccessD but you can get him on the tech and OT lists or directly at Arthur Fuller (fuller.artful at gmail.com). R -----Original Message----- From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com [mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Mark Breen Sent: Monday, July 01, 2013 12:47 AM To: Access Developers discussion and problem solving Subject: Re: [AccessD] Good Feelings To All Hi Rocky, I just saw you post about Alpha Anywhere. Have you used it ? Do you know anyone that is using it ? Hope all is great ? Mark On 18 June 2013 16:25, Rocky Smolin <rockysmolin at bchacc.com> wrote: > Does Alpha support relational db back ends? > > r > > -----Original Message----- > From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com > [mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Arthur > Fuller > Sent: Tuesday, June 18, 2013 8:22 AM > To: Access Developers discussion and problem solving > Subject: Re: [AccessD] Good Feelings To All > > Tony, > > I can speak only for myself, but since I declared my retirement, I > have found life a whole lot more fun than pretty much the four decades > since I graduated from university. I have a lot less money now than in > those decades, but I am lots happier than since my days in university, > which were perhaps the most fun years of my life. My current stage in > life is a close second. I'm learning Mandarin, reading 2-3 books a > week, working on my next HBO-style saga about the history of Chinese > crime in Canada, and rediscovering Mozart, to whom I have previously > given short shrift in favour of Beethoven. In my retirement years, I > have never felt more energetic and less pressured by deadlines. I love > it. > > I suppose that some people feel useless upon retirement, but I am not > one of those. I've shrunk the needs to spend and negated the desire to > keep up with the Joneses. I've discarded the huge majority of my > material possessions, either by sale or donation to the library or > Value Village, and the net result is that I feel more free than I have > felt in the past 3 decades at minimum. > > Recently an old client called me to request a few enhancements to the > app I wrote for him. The code began in about 2005 and I've done a few > weeks work on it every year since. It's a complex app and he is a > terrific friend, so there's no way in the world that I would abandon my end of the canoe. > > There are two other things happening in terms of gigs: > > I'm mentoring a guy in San Francisco who I think holds the world > record for largest Access app ever written. Using MZTools, I > determined that the total line count of VBA code was 700K. There are > ~360 tables, and a MySQL back end. (He approached me because he bought > our book on MySQL ( www.artfulsoftware.com). > > I created a Volunteer-management app with an Access FE and a SQL > Server BE, for an NPO that handles housing for the aged and infirm. I > volunteered to do this because I recognize the value of their work. > The hourly rate on this gig is $0. Prior to my retirement, I would > never have had the time to do such a project, despite my empathy for > their work. Now that I have retired from the coding business, I have > lots of hours to throw against such a benevolent project. In about two > months, following local testing, we'll roll this baby out to ~300 > offices in ~20 cities. It's part of my "Giving Back" > strategy in my semi-retirement. > > I still do (very) occasional maintenance on Access projects, but have > shifted my focus to Alpha Five. I'm on the beta team for Alpha > Anywhere, soon to be released. In a word, it is awesome. "Anywhere" means just that: > write a web app once and it will run in any browser, plus tablet and > smart phone. Or, alternatively, write a traditional desktop app. I am > still mid-project on my first Alpha Anywhere app. It took me a while > to decide upon what to write in it, but finally it occurred to me that > I have the perfect app to try out on this new platform (perfect > meaning the existing Access app I've written for a client who could > most profit by the transition to smart phone and tablet). In terms of > complexity, I'd call it middle-level. It's an app for safety > inspection engineers. In case you don't know what they are, they visit > factories and take measurements at every workstation (drill, press, > robot) and pass or fail their current setup, supplying recommendations > for how to fix any detected problems. The client who commissioned this > app currently lugs a laptop around from station to station. Recently I > gave him a glimpse of the new version, written in the beta of Alpha > Anywhere. I showed him how it runs on my Nexus > 7 and he was blown away. > > In full disclosure, as a member of the beta team at Alpha, I am not > paid for my time and since it's privately held, own no shares and the > above should be considered my objective opinion, not a propaganda > piece. The simple fact is that should any potential Access gigs come > my way in the future, I will discourage Access as the vehicle and > suggest Alpha instead, for two > reasons: > it is wayyyy more powerful than Access, and it beautifully supports > desktop, web, smart phone and tablet. > > I'm doing the port of the aforementioned safety-engineering app on my > nickel. The client didn't request it; it just struck me as the perfect > example of what to gain by having an app written once that can run on > all these platforms. It's also an excellent excuse to keep > programming, but with the virtue that there is neither a deadline nor > a project manager nagging me. > > I repeat that I have nothing to gain personally from my endorsement of > Alpha > 5 and the forthcoming Alpha Anywhere. But this is my endorsement: > don't wait for Microsoft to release some sort of Access equivalent, > Visit the AlphaSoftware.com web site and download a trial and see for > yourself how superior it is. Nuff said. > > > > On Mon, Jun 17, 2013 at 10:39 AM, Tony Septav <TSeptav at uniserve.com> > wrote: > > > Hey Guys > > > > I think we have become dinosaurs, our time has come and gone. Yes > > they may be some of you that are still being profitable with ACCESS > > projects > but > > let's be honest............... Sorry not trying to be the "Grim > Reaper". > > Getting that old wiener wagon and hanging out at the beach and > > watching wave babies is looking better all the time. The only > > problem is I am to old to remember what to do with a wave baby. > > > > > > > > Tony Septav > > > > Nanaimo, BC > > > > Canada > > > > -- > > AccessD mailing list > > AccessD at databaseadvisors.com > > http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/accessd > > Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com > > > > > > -- > Arthur > Cell: 647.710.1314 > > Prediction is difficult, especially of the future. > -- Niels Bohr > -- > AccessD mailing list > AccessD at databaseadvisors.com > http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/accessd > Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com > > -- > AccessD mailing list > AccessD at databaseadvisors.com > http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/accessd > Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com > -- AccessD mailing list AccessD at databaseadvisors.com http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/accessd Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com