[AccessD] Access 2007 Applications Running Under Access 2013Runtime

Jim Lawrence accessd at shaw.ca
Mon Jan 19 13:25:44 CST 2015


Hi Gustav and Jim:

Being late to the conversation it might be a past issue but...

I have been working with a company that is trying to migrate small and medium businesses, from their XP desktop to another OS. I was amazed how many major companies were still holding fast to XP. Over the years these companies have invested millions of dollar in their current OS and regardless what is said by the media, their systems are stable, secure, have all the features they need and most importantly are paid for.

Companies are now waiting on Windows10 as they have been ignoring the versions in between. Everything hinges on whether Microsoft can produce a product that is stable, secure, has the features needed, is inexpensive and allowing a step migration process by supporting older hardware.

I must be honest as Linux definitely holds a strong attraction and provided an additional feature...complete control. The only business products, that I am aware of, that do not run stably on Linux, are from Adobe but they are hardly a concern for a majority of the staff which work on their browsers and their POS systems. (Aside: On a test production environment Deskptop, at the company in question, their main POS system took 20 minutes to install on Linux and has run for weeks without issues.)

I am not divorcing Windows but we have reserved the right to have an open relationship. ;-)

Jim

PS: Both my Access 2003 and Access 2007 run fine on my Linux box. If anyone wants me to test compatibility of either their products or Access versions, you can contact me off line. Of course, rumors have stated that by 2015 Microsoft will have a Linux version of their Office product line, so this all may be a non-issue, but we shall see... 
 
----- Original Message -----
From: "Gustav Brock" <gustav at cactus.dk> 
To: "Access Developers discussion and problem solving" <accessd at databaseadvisors.com>
Sent: Sunday, January 11, 2015 3:54:55 AM
Subject: Re: [AccessD] Access 2007 Applications Running Under Access 2013Runtime

Hi Jim

Personally, I have the same experience as Arthur. I try to force Win8.1 on everything I can get access to because it is so much better. Alone the reduced boot time makes people feel they've got a new machine, not to mention the wake-up time which is a couple of seconds only even on machines hooked up to Active Drectory. 
Windows Update is another wast improvement. In earlier versions it bothers you regurlarly and bugs the machine if it hasn't been in use for a while; in Windows 8 it runs nearly silent, updates much faster, and steps back when you work.

What you describe is comparable to FUD. People are told from so many sources, that Windows 8 is scary, so they of course refrain and install an OS from 2009.
Recently, I had an interesting experience. A friend running Windows 8 at home was given the choice between Win7 and Win8 for his new office machine. He chose Win7 because it was "probably the safest" - who looks for trouble at work?
Now he regrets. Among other things, he misses the large start screen where he nicely has organized his tiles/shortcuts.

The reasons why large corporations are behind is traditional. It just takes time to get everything tested and approved. That's why you have extended support for Windows 7 after the 15th of this month. I recall when Windows XP was out and we started offering it to clients, Novo Nordic - a Microsoft reference customer who lacked neither knowledge, resources, nor money - was just about to roll out Windows 2000.

/gustav

________________________________________
Fra: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com <accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com> på vegne af Jim Dettman <jimdettman at verizon.net>
Sendt: 11. januar 2015 10:33
Til: 'Access Developers discussion and problem solving'
Emne: Re: [AccessD] Access 2007 Applications Running Under Access       2013Runtime

Arthur,

 With business, it's time and money vs. reward.

 Windows 7 runs remarkably well and if you strip away the tile UI in Windows
8, you basically are left with Windows 7.  There's nothing particularly
compelling in Win 8 to make you want to switch. Windows 7 is another Windows
XP; your going to find folks running it well past extended support unless
Windows 10 is a killer.

 But back to 8; you forget that 8.1 came out well after the release of 8.0
and until then, you had to deal with the tile UI.  You were given no choice
and with everything you did, you were constantly getting tossed back to it.
As a result, you were forced to work with two very different UI's.  One was
very familiar, the other required learning a whole new set of gestures,
movements, ways of working etc.

 The tile UI did work way better with touch, but Microsoft was naïve in
thinking everyone was going to go out and buy a new monitor and spend more
on top of what they normally would to make it touch just so they could use
windows 8.  On a phone or tablet Win 8 made perfect sense, but not for a
desktop, which is the way most of the business world works.

 There was also the problem with the tile UI itself, the complaint most
often being that it was "too busy".  As part of its interface guidelines,
Microsoft stated that no tile should update itself no more than once every
thirty minutes.  Well guess what?  They themselves turned around and
immediately released a number of apps that updated every four minutes, and
along with everyone else that did the same in order to say "hey look at me,
use me", it quickly got to the point where it was overwhelming to use.
Everything was begging for your attention.  It was like being in a crowed
room with everyone yelling for attention all at once.

 So no one really liked it. You yourself said it; as soon as you could dump
the tile UI you did. Microsoft might have had a shot with Win 8 had they
released 8.1 sooner, but by the time they did it was way too late.  Everyone
had already decided to wait for the next best thing and put their budget
dollars else where.

 The other thing that worked against them is that because of the success of
XP, it was only slightly prior to the release of 8 that business had mostly
gotten off XP onto 7.  Even if 8 had been a "must have" OS, businesses were
not yet ready for another upgrade cycle.

Jim.
-----Original Message-----
From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com
[mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Arthur Fuller
Sent: Saturday, January 10, 2015 06:42 PM
To: Access Developers discussion and problem solving
Subject: Re: [AccessD] Access 2007 Applications Running Under Access
2013Runtime

Jim,

I frankly confess that I do not understand the vehement objections to
Windows 8+. As soon as I figured out how to sidestep the tile-UI,
everything provided has proved way better than Win7 (although I still run
Win7 on my tower). I've configured both laptop and desk-tower to recognize
the shared drives on both boxes, and on the Win 8.1 laptop I never see the
tiles UI, so I really don't see the problem. It's drop-dead simple to
bypass the tiles-UI and after that, the W8.1 is way better than any
previous Winstallation. I just don't get all the whining and bitching about
Win8+. As far as I'm concerned, it's way better than previous editions.
Mind you, I have set it up to mostly ignore the tiles UI, and that is
drop-dead simple to implement, but once having got there, the 8.1
implementation far outclasses all previous implementations, IMO.
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