Hale, Jim
Jim.Hale at FleetPride.com
Thu Sep 29 11:22:45 CDT 2005
What worries me is that, despite all the words to the contrary, MS doesn't really understand the power user community. Power users are fundamentally task oriented as opposed to application development oriented. This means for any given assignment the user has to weigh completion of the task with the required "investment" in time, etc., to learn new ways to do things faster/more accurately. For example, do I cut and paste numbers from existing spreadsheets to get the boss his numbers or do I learn how to create a pivot table? For those willing to invest the incremental time the rewards can be great because the new skill can lead to immense productivity. The key word is incremental. The typical power user can seldom break away for a week or more to go to seminars, conferences, etc. so the acquisition of new skills is truly small steps at a time. Like the power of compounding, however, over time (years in my case) the acquired skills can add up to something substantial. What I have always liked about Office is the unique blend of capabilities available to all users. It tremendously narrowed the Great Divide between the IT tribe and the User tribe because users could be much more self sufficient. From spreadsheet to pivot table to Access table to wizards and macros to eventually full fledged VBA there exists a power path for those willing to climb it. A power user could actually become a developer if so inclined. My first impression of the new paradigm is that the chasm has widened again and that users will once again be relegated to their little pond. For any functionality outside of that they will have to go hat in hand to the IT powers that be. Shades of the 70s! The user ghetto may be fancier but it is a ghetto all the same. Take the word from someonme who has struggled to achieve self sufficieny for 30 years, starting with the IBM 360. Power users had a fighting chance for independence with tools like VBA. Are they going to invest the time to learn Net? I doubt it. How sad. Jim Hale -----Original Message----- From: Jim Dettman [mailto:jimdettman at earthlink.net] Sent: Tuesday, September 27, 2005 2:34 PM To: Access Developers discussion and problem solving Subject: Re: [AccessD] The future of Access, .NET and SQL For those interested, some tid bits http://216.55.183.63/pdc2005/slides/OFF201_Harris.ppt http://216.55.183.63/pdc2005/slides/OFF302_Dhanjal.ppt http://216.55.183.63/pdc2005/slides/OFF310_Morton.ppt http://216.55.183.63/pdc2005/slides/OFF415_Hatoun.ppt http://216.55.183.63/pdc2005/slides/OFF417_Whitechapel.ppt http://216.55.183.63/pdc2005/slides/OFF307_Covington.ppt Jim. -----Original Message----- From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com [mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com]On Behalf Of John W. Colby Sent: Tuesday, September 27, 2005 3:16 PM To: 'Access Developers discussion and problem solving' Subject: Re: [AccessD] The future of Access, .NET and SQL I saw a demo of the new beta for Office and it is, shall we say, distinctly developer UNFRIENDLY. Actively, in-your-face unfriendly. It is SUPPOSED to be "power user" friendly, although it didn't look particularly friendly at all. A STEEP learning curve because the user interface is just entirely and completely different. Toolbars are gone (kind of replaced by "ribbons"), menus mostly just cause "ribbons" to appear, which take up a lot of screen real estate and are the replacement for toolbars. Code tabs GONE. You are supposed to do things with macros again. Which are the same old macros of old, no error handlers etc. Code modules do exist, and can be used, but I never did see how you got at them. Code is just too much for POWER USERS and users are the focus. Get out now while the gettin's good. My personal feeling is that Office as we know it will be around until MS pulls the plug on support, just because of the natural resistance of companies to change what works. The new Office is just not supposed to be a dev environment any more. Too many security problems, plus it always was a clunky mish mash of old technology that MS is trying desperately to retire. Just my opinion. I will continue to support my clients up through 2003, but beyond that my services (in Office) are actively discouraged by MS and so I will happily move on. We always were second class citizens, I might as well move on to VB.Net and keep my second class citizenship in good standing. Plus with the emphasis on the web, distributed this-n-that and data everywhere, ASP.Net, VB.net and SQL Server is a powerful environment. IMHO, nothing will ever again match the RAD capabilities of Access for database (specifically) application development but once I get up to speed in DotNet I will be in the same league (in some ways) and waaaaaay more capable in many others, so it will be a good tradeoff. John W. Colby www.ColbyConsulting.com Contribute your unused CPU cycles to a good cause: http://folding.stanford.edu/ -----Original Message----- From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com [mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Martin Reid Sent: Tuesday, September 27, 2005 2:55 PM To: Access Developers discussion and problem solving Subject: Re: [AccessD] The future of Access, .NET and SQL All I can pass on is what I hear and pick up from the web. Personally I think they will make a hugh push towards SharePoint technologies with the new release of Office and that seems to be the direction they are heading in talks we have been having with them re projects in the University. On the Access front I think MS focus is on .NET and XML as data the data stores but thats my own opinion. RE JET I did hear sometime ago that it would no londer be developed but as John says I am sure it wil remain about. I did also hear the new engine woudl work with JET. I do know that when the Access dev team reps where in the UK they didnt want to meet developers but wanted to meet with users. Now that I do know and have an email about somewhere that says that. Maybe that sort of sums up what they think. Martin -- 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 *********************************************************************** The information transmitted is intended solely for the individual or entity to which it is addressed and may contain confidential and/or privileged material. Any review, retransmission, dissemination or other use of or taking action in reliance upon this information by persons or entities other than the intended recipient is prohibited. If you have received this email in error please contact the sender and delete the material from any computer. As a recipient of this email, you are responsible for screening its contents and the contents of any attachments for the presence of viruses. 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