[AccessD] OT: open source

IMO there would be a significant shift in the Linux world if somebody
released something even close to Access. Yeah, there's Jbuilder and
Kylix and such, and a few dbAdmin apps for MySQL, but there is no free
or inexpensive RAD db dev app for Linux... And until there is, few if
any of us will move our businesses there.

If I were good enough to clone Access, I'd do it. Sadly, I'm not. It
would take several programmers a year or more. Let's face it, Access is
a brilliant piece of work, despite its bugs and its price. Tough to
clone and deliver the equivalent functionality, especially given VBA, a
project unto itself. 

Borland has done well, but their solution is pricy. Yeah, you can grab a
small version free but it's missing all the components you would need
for real-world dev, so how does that help? IMO they would do much better
with a free 120-day licensing scheme, so you could actually try to build
something serious, and if it looks like it's gonna work, then you can
click the button and pay the money.

A further complication in attempting to clone Access for Linux is the
multiple targets. You could do as MS did and begin with one target, and
publish an API to invite other players into the mix -- the Linux
equivalent of ODBC, hopefully done smarter and better. Probably start
with MySQL, then as you gained groundswell, expand the targets to
include maybe PostGres and Cache, leaving Oracle etc. to their vendors
to write using the API. Big work.

Some of the stuff has been written already and is open-source so it can
be grabbed with a thang-ya-very-much, but the job remains huge... IMO
way way beyond the scope of one brilliant developer. Needs a team of
brilliant developers plus an architect. AFACS, the Linux community is
not interested, or to put it more graciously, realizes the size of the
problem and is not interested.

If there was an Access clone in the Linux world, I would IMMEDIATELY
recommend to all my clients that they abandon Windows. But there isn't,
and so despite my emotional/political slant, I am forced to recommend
Windows solutions -- it works, and it's RAD, and that means it's
relatively cheap.

I would so much prefer to recommend some product called MyAccess, which
works with MySQL and maybe other Linux databases, but until that
emerges, I have to say that Access is the cheap way to go. I can ship
runtimes if you don't want to pay the licensing for Access on every box.
This assumes a WindX environment, but if the bottom line and the ROI
matter, then Win + Access win. I don't like it much, but that's how I
see it. Wish it were otherwise.

Arthur



-----Original Message-----
From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com
[mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Martin Reid
Sent: Tuesday, April 06, 2004 8:43 AM
To: Access Developers discussion and problem solving
Subject: Re: [AccessD] OT: open source


WHy should we move?

Money, costs us a fortune for MS licences


Martin


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Susan Harkins" <ssharkins at bellsouth.net>
To: "'Access Developers discussion and problem solving'"
<accessd at databaseadvisors.com>
Sent: Tuesday, April 06, 2004 4:24 PM
Subject: RE: [AccessD] OT: open source


> But why should they?
>
> Susan H.
>
> >From our point of view it would be difficult in terms of
> money and infrastructure to change over. The amount of work would be
massive
> requiring a substantial investment in both hardware, software and
training.
>
> Its not impossible just take the will to make the move.
>
>
> --
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> AccessD mailing list
> AccessD at databaseadvisors.com
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>

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