[AccessD] Future of Access?

> If you are thinking of keeping the same app and database engine alive
> for 30 years I would go for Java and Oracle or DB2. Microsoft is indeed
> unpredictable for a time span of this size.
>
===========Gustav, this is a sincere question -- not meant to punch
anyone -- but what makes you think anyone will be anymore predictable than
MS? In 30 years, relational storage as we know it may be archaic
technology -- that's a long long time to fuss at MS for not producing what
it's producing now.

I know MS is everyone's favorite "we love to hate..." and I don't have a lot
of practical experience with anything other than MS, but if the news I read
is to be believed, I don't see that IMB or Oracle are any better ... they're
all just trying to keep up with the technology demands.

I don't know nothing about birthing babies... but data warehousing really
seems to be the trend, and if I had money, I'd lay a bet that in 30 years,
no one but desktop users and companies that refuse to change will be using
relational systems. That's just my bet, but ...

As to the actual question -- I don't think anyone's company should expect
them to know the trends of the future -- but building a model that's
flexible and easily adaptable to the business trends and growth would be, in
my mind, more efficient than producing a plan that points the future in
specific directions. As long as the relational database is sound, I see no
reason why it shouldn't upgrade to anything the technology future should
throw at us... so in that respect, I'm not sure the future "plan" is as
important as the soundness of the application right now.

Sorry... I'm not picking on you Gustav and you responded well, I just have
to disagree that any product is predictable in a 30 year time frame.

Susan  H.