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<TITLE>RE: [AccessD] Future of Access?</TITLE>
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<P><FONT SIZE=2><who is going to be able to maintain his software if it</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2><is not converted every few years to a technology that people are able</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>and willing to work with?></FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2>My son just graduated from college with a business degree in MIS. He has had the GOOD fortune to land a great job with a major insurance company. The catch? He has been assigned to the mainframe maintenance team. He is attempting to learn COBOL, JCL and easytrieve (?) to service apps that might have been cutting edge 30 yrs ago. For someone whose total experience is with object oriented programming (he is a pretty good web designer) he is going nuts! Even the manuals are out of print <g>.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2>Jim Hale</FONT>
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<P><FONT SIZE=2>-----Original Message-----</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>From: Wortz, Charles [<A HREF="mailto:CWortz@tea.state.tx.us">mailto:CWortz@tea.state.tx.us</A>]</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>Sent: Wednesday, July 16, 2003 8:52 AM</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>To: Access Developers discussion and problem solving</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>Subject: RE: [AccessD] Future of Access?</FONT>
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<P><FONT SIZE=2>Arthur,</FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2>But in 30 years will the kids know how to use pencils? <grin></FONT>
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<P><FONT SIZE=2>That is one of the reasons I told Chris to expect some conversions of</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>his software. Unless he is planning on staying on the project for the</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>next 30 years, who is going to be able to maintain his software if it</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>is not converted every few years to a technology that people are able</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>and willing to work with?</FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2>The software does not wear out, but finding people that understand old</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>software and are willing to maintain it is very expensive. The dBase</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>applications I wrote 10-15 years ago probably still would work fine, but</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>how are you going to find anybody that understands the dBase file</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>structure and is willing to work with it? They would have to double my</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>salary if they wanted me to stick with dBase. Thus, they all have been</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>converted to Access since that is a technology that has an large labor</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>pool of developers and maintainers.</FONT>
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<P><FONT SIZE=2>Charles Wortz</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>Software Development Division</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>Texas Education Agency</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>1701 N. Congress Ave</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>Austin, TX 78701-1494</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>512-463-9493</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>CWortz@tea.state.tx.us</FONT>
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<P><FONT SIZE=2>-----Original Message-----</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>From: Arthur Fuller [<A HREF="mailto:artful@rogers.com">mailto:artful@rogers.com</A>] </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>Sent: Wednesday 2003 Jul 16 08:16</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>To: 'Access Developers discussion and problem solving'</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>Subject: RE: [AccessD] Future of Access?</FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2>The only technology guaranteed to be here in 2033, AFAIK, is a pencil</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>and paper :-) However, the remote users might not like the time-lag.</FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2>Arthur</FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2>-----Original Message-----</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>From: accessd-bounces@databaseadvisors.com</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>[<A HREF="mailto:accessd-bounces@databaseadvisors.com">mailto:accessd-bounces@databaseadvisors.com</A>] On Behalf Of Foote, Chris</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>Sent: July 16, 2003 5:57 AM</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>To: 'Access Developers discussion and problem solving'</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>Subject: RE: [AccessD] Future of Access?</FONT>
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<P><FONT SIZE=2>Thanks for the input Gustav!</FONT>
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<P><FONT SIZE=2>I'd forgotten about Oracle! I'll add that to the list of possibilities.</FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2>The requirements are (at this stage) pretty vague, but is likely to</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>involve up to ten concurrent users on geographically remote sites. I'm</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>guessing on half a million records split between five/six main tables.</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>My current A97 db with 16k records weighs in at (FE + BE) 15MB. My</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>proposed db is not much more complicated than this.</FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2>Thirty years ago my programming was done on a Ferranti Pegasus</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>mainframe. I had to write the programme one paper with a pencil, convert</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>it to hole on punched cards, wait for the technician to run the</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>programme and give me the paper read-out. The Pegasus (IIRC) used 60</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>thousand ECC83 valves (tubes) and had a whole building to itself. Thirty</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>years on, I've got more processing power in my cell phone!</FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2>But my company /still/ wants me to design a database to be used for the</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>/next/ thirty years!</FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2>Best Regards!</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>Chris Foote (UK)</FONT>
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