Jim Lawrence
accessd at shaw.ca
Thu Feb 13 23:10:07 CST 2014
Hi Rocky: To be honest you are in a real tough spot but, as I understand it versions of Access 2010 and less, which still have full coding capabilities and as long as those version are still in the sales pipeline, they will still be available....whether they will be supported on Windows 8.x is a question I can not answer. I run my Access 2003 on my Ubuntu 13.10 version, under Wine, a Windows emulator and it works just fine. It did take a bit of moving things around and copying dlls and APIs but in the end everything just worked. The next time I need to install Access 2003, on to a client's Linux computer, I just cut and past the Wine layout. I am sure that process could be followed for virtually any MS Access version. First install the version on your Windows computre, go to the Linux box with Wine emulator installed, then attempt to install the same Access version and at each error, either create the appropriate directory and/or insert the correct file...there undoubtedly will be a few files missing (MS Access uses or changes many of the already existing Windows files and does not install them itself...but it needs them so it can work). The whole process was fairly easy as the install told me what file(s) was missing and I then created a directory if necessary and dropped the missing file into place...felt like 15 minute but the process probably took an hour. I could then roll out MS Access on a Linux box by just copying the Access-Wine structure over and over and then you could just re-install, over each stations, the local MS Access licence and it would be all done and legal. Hope this helps. Jim ----- Original Message ----- From: "Rocky Smolin" <rockysmolin at bchacc.com> To: "Discussion of Hardware and Software issues" <dba-tech at databaseadvisors.com> Sent: Thursday, February 13, 2014 12:13:17 PM Subject: Re: [dba-Tech] The perfect storm Those of us who make a living from Access - what do we do? R -----Original Message----- From: dba-tech-bounces at databaseadvisors.com [mailto:dba-tech-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Arthur Fuller Sent: Thursday, February 13, 2014 10:16 AM To: Discussion of Hardware and Software issues Subject: Re: [dba-Tech] The perfect storm Given all the free apps available on various Linux flavours, as well as the user-friendly downloads of Ubuntu, Mint and others, and the costs of training the user-base to adapt to Linux vs. the costs of training said base to learn Windows 8, for me at least this is a no-brainer. I recommend to all my clients and friends who are open-minded, to switch to Linux and forget once and for all about costly updates to all the essential components that describe your environment. The various Linux installations have all pretty much achieved no-brainer status. LibreOffice can do anything Office can do. Linux in any variant has made it, and IMO has eclipsed Windows+Office. There's no longer a contest any more. The real question is "How can MS respond? And the available answers are: a) the Ostrich strategy: stick your head in the sand and hope for the best.Given the animosity MS has created in the world of Access developers, not to mention those in the Excel and Word 3P communities, I see no future in this avenue. b) Offer future versions of Windows and Office for free (two chances of that: a fat one and a slim one). Long story short, I see no future in betting on Microsoft, and I say this sadly, since for most of the past 20+ years I have made my income in betting on MS. But I no longer see that as a viable play. The more I examine the terrain, the more I feel that Ubuntu + Libre + various other packages comprise the most viable solution, for everything from Mom 'n' Pop to Large Scale Businesses. There is a cost-of-transition, no doubt about it. But compared with the MS licensing fees, this transition cost is trivial. An organization can adopt Linux, LibreOffice and MySQL for free and forever. Punch an accountant and ask her to wake up and smell her coffee, and further to test said implementation on any available disposable machine, or even a VM (which is also free, such as Oracle's VirtualBox). In short, there is no contest. All that remains is the will-power of the IT people in the given organization. Arthur _______________________________________________ dba-Tech mailing list dba-Tech at databaseadvisors.com http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/dba-tech Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com _______________________________________________ dba-Tech mailing list dba-Tech at databaseadvisors.com http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/dba-tech Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com