Martin Reid
mwp.reid at qub.ac.uk
Thu Jun 24 03:07:17 CDT 2004
Now I know why you coming. Martin ----- Original Message ----- From: "Charlotte Foust" <cfoust at infostatsystems.com> To: "Access Developers discussion and problem solving" <accessd at databaseadvisors.com> Sent: Thursday, June 24, 2004 1:05 AM Subject: RE: [AccessD] For Money or Love > Oh, Arthur, I'm so sorry. I lost a good friend earlier this year and I > hate to lose another, even one I've never met face to face. > > Charlotte Foust > > -----Original Message----- > From: Arthur Fuller [mailto:artful at rogers.com] > Sent: Wednesday, June 23, 2004 3:11 PM > To: 'Access Developers discussion and problem solving' > Subject: [AccessD] For Money or Love > > > IMO this is not required. I just need to be guaranteed my rent and phone > bill and food and cat food and car insurance, etc. Beyond that, I don't > need to accumulate wealth. I just want my obligations covered, and if I > have any time left then it's free. > > Not to say I am the measure of anyone but myself, but that's my frame of > reference. I'm writing a screenplay in my off-hours currently. It may > sell; I have sold two previously and thus have an agent who is > interested; but frankly I don't care whether it sells. > > I have some serious medical issues and won't be around much more than a > year. Faced with that kind of news, one confronts "what do you want to > do before you bid adieu"? -- mitigated of course by what can you afford > to do, and so on. I reduced my list to 3 items -- go to Ireland for a > visit, revisit Paris for a couple of days to review the most beautiful > city in the world, and knock out the aforementioned screenplay. Anything > else that I manage is wonderful and gratuitous and gratis. > > I do need to make a living for a year or so, but I can do that in about > 20 hours a week. The screenplay will take another hour a day minimum. > > I confess that I am running out of petrol, however; thus my relative > absence from this list. I can manage it once a week or so, and respond > too late to most messages to be useful and timely. But I feel that I > have made a lot of friends here, despite the fact that I have never met > almost all of you. > > "Nothing concentrates the mind like the knowledge that you will hanged > in the morning." > > Arthur > > -----Original Message----- > From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com > [mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of > DWUTKA at marlow.com > Sent: Wednesday, June 23, 2004 1:30 PM > To: accessd at databaseadvisors.com > Subject: RE: [AccessD] Hiding Back End Design > > > 'Open source' should pervade into all areas of the information age. > Music, programming, videos, etc. Unfortunately it will take a complete > change in humanity's driving force....the accumulation of wealth. As > long as people are trying to make a buck, it will be virtually > impossible to get them to do stuff simply for the betterment of society. > > Drew > > -----Original Message----- > From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com > [mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com]On Behalf Of Arthur Fuller > Sent: Wednesday, June 23, 2004 10:15 AM > To: 'Access Developers discussion and problem solving' > Subject: RE: [AccessD] Hiding Back End Design > > > I'm in late on this thread, but it seems to me that this requirement for > a hidden database design should have been in the project specs right > from the start, and that its presence there should have signalled a > warning that Access was the wrong database for this job, and the wrong > front end too. Something like VB with a RAIMA back end would IMO have > been a wiser choice. Of course, if this requirement were not in the > project specs from the beginning, who would know? This is one of those > classic examples of how major changes to the specs introduced late in > the game cost 20 times as much as they would have if introduced early. > > On the subject of open-source, way back when in the days of Clipper I > had a company that sold 6 libraries for Clipper developers. We included > all the source code to each of them. Most of the code was in Clipper, > but some was in C and some in assembly language. No doubt some people > did things with it that were not covered in the license, but on the > other hand a small cadre of "believers" formed around us, and some of > them submitted significant enhancements to our original code. We > credited them in the comments on the relevant source files and mentioned > them in the documentation, and sent them an Artful sweatshirt. That was > payment enough for them. > > This is hardly the Linux open-source model, I realize. I wish that the > open-source model would "infect" the Windows world more than it has so > far. Access developers are among the most willing to share, I find, but > there is lots of VB and C and C++ code out there too. Most of the time > these free offerings are components or gussied-up controls and so on. It > would be cool, IMO, if it went up a notch, to the application level. For > example, apps vaguely like the application wizard can create in Access. > Unfortunately, most of these wiz-generated demo-apps don't reflect good > design principles, IMO. > > While on this subject, does anyone know how to interface with this > wiz-generator? I.e., suppose I want to create (let's keep it simple for > the discussion) a General Ledger app with a Chart of Accounts, General > Journals etc., can I do so in such a way that the wizard will detect its > presence and automatically add it to the list of apps you can generate? > > If memory serves, old versions of this wizard offered to populate the > resulting app with sample data, but new versions don't. Anyone have any > idea why this feature was dropped? > > Arthur > > -----Original Message----- > From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com > [mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of ACTEBS > Sent: Monday, June 21, 2004 10:20 PM > To: 'Access Developers discussion and problem solving' > Subject: RE: [AccessD] Hiding Back End Design > > > Gustav, > > "Personally, I think the time for proprietary systems has passed - > customers need systems they can drag data from to be used elsewhere." > > Never a truer word said. > > With the decision by the Munich government to migrate to Linux, France > looking to do the same and Brazil on the verge, it seems as though the > end is nigh for the proprietary software/business model. > > Hmmm, sorry I went a bit off topic there..... ; ) > > Rocky - if a cracker wants to crack your software he will. There are > teams of these people out there who see it as a challenge. Why waste > your time? > > Vlad > > -----Original Message----- > From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com > [mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Gustav Brock > Sent: Tuesday, 22 June 2004 4:02 AM > To: Access Developers discussion and problem solving > Subject: Re: [AccessD] Hiding Back End Design > > > Hi Rocky > > No, you cannot open or attach tables from the BE without the correct > password. But as stated from several already, you can google up at least > three password crackers. > > Next step would be Access security as mentioned by Drew, and the next > would be to apply field encryption which is a major step. > > By why not turn it completely around: make the design open and > documented as "this is the way to build a database for an application > like this"? Then you are the master and everyone else is the replicant - > following the "Rocky" standard. Personally, I think the time for > proprietary systems has passed - customers need systems they can drag > data from to be used elsewhere. > > Also, I really doubt someone can figure out the intelligence of your app > just by watching the table design. One can watch what is going on when > data have been entered or updated but not _how_, and if someone can > figure it out, he will already know how to build a similar app without > knowing your table design. > > /gustav > > > > If I'm reading the help file correctly, encryption does not hide the > > objects, just the data, yes? I need to hide the design of the back > > end. Password protection is too weak. I'll be up against > > professionals. > > > Rocky > > > ----- Original Message ----- > > From: "Gustav Brock" <gustav at cactus.dk> > > To: "Access Developers discussion and problem solving" > > <accessd at databaseadvisors.com> > > Sent: Monday, June 21, 2004 9:41 AM > > Subject: Re: [AccessD] Hiding Back End Design > > > >> Hi Rocky > >> > >> You can encrypt the database. Not bulletproof, of course, but keeps > >> the average user away. > >> > >> /gustav > >> > >> > Is there a way to easily hide the back end design? My distributor > >> > in > > Taiwan feels that if the back end design is not hidden then the > > product > can > > be easily knocked off. > > -- > _______________________________________________ > AccessD mailing list > AccessD at databaseadvisors.com > http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/accessd > Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com > > > > -- > _______________________________________________ > AccessD mailing list > AccessD at databaseadvisors.com > http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/accessd > Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com > > -- > _______________________________________________ > AccessD mailing list > AccessD at databaseadvisors.com > http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/accessd > Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com > -- > _______________________________________________ > AccessD mailing list > AccessD at databaseadvisors.com > http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/accessd > Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com > > -- > _______________________________________________ > AccessD mailing list > AccessD at databaseadvisors.com > http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/accessd > Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com > -- > _______________________________________________ > AccessD mailing list > AccessD at databaseadvisors.com > http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/accessd > Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com >