[AccessD] Future of Microsoft Access

jwcolby jwcolby at colbyconsulting.com
Sun Jul 25 14:01:32 CDT 2010


Brad,

I have been developing in Access since 1994.  I love it up through version 2003.  2007 I don't much 
like.

I am moving on to C# and .Net.  The reason mostly has to do with the power of the platform.  Over 15 
years of working with Access I have seen about ONE major upgrade, from 97 to 2K / XP / 2003.  That 
involved migrating Access to the code editor, and giving us ADO.

In terms of actual additions to the languages, after classes were added, event handling and ADO, 
pretty much nothing.

So as a developer I have not been given any major new tools.

Now, look at .Net.  It started in the late 90s, and has been constantly improved.  C# and the .Net 
framework is probably the most powerful environment I have ever seen, and EVERY upgrade, major new 
capabilities are added to it.

Not silly tool bars, things like LinQ.

To see the modern programming constructs C# gives us look at this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C_Sharp_%28programming_language%29

In this, look at what was added every version:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.NET_Framework

Now, go look at what was added in Access 2003, 2007 and now 2010.

Access is a good tool.  It could have been a great tool, but MS just isn't spending the resources to 
make it great.  Access in 2010 is not significantly different that it was in 2002.

What did Stuart say...

(Of course there are times when you can give it a bit of help by rolling your own "glue
applications " and DLLs in PowerBasic <g>)

Or... you could just learn .Net.

Having said all of that, Access is a premier reporting tool.  It will attach to just about anything 
with just a few clicks, and it's reporting abilities are pretty darned good.  And if you just need a 
"little app" to do some "little thing" then it is an absolutely awesome tool.  I wouldn't touch it 
today for starting a large enterprise application.

John W. Colby
www.ColbyConsulting.com


Brad Marks wrote:
> All,
> 
> I suspect that I have quite a different perspective than most of you
> regarding Access.  After many years of working in the IBM mainframe
> environment, I now find myself working for a small firm.  We have several
> PC-based purchased products and we are using Access to build interfaces and
> to provide an easy way to get at data that in the past was very difficult to
> get at.
> 
> I am very impressed with Microsoft Access and what we are able to do with
> it.  So far, I have not encountered anything that needs to be done that
> cannot be done with Access.  All of our applications are for internal use
> only and are there is no need for them to be Web-based.
> 
> Over the past couple months, there have been some comments in this forum
> regarding Access and its future.  Some people have said that Access is
> declining in use and is becoming a niche product.  I would like to get some
> more perspective on this issue.  Again, I am coming from a non-Microsoft
> environment, so I do not know the history, evolution, direction, and future
> of the Microsoft products.
> 
> If not Access for the small business environment, then what?
> 
> Are some people suggesting that Visual Studio is going to replace Access?
> 
> If so, isn't Visual Studio much more complicated and expensive than Access?
> 
> If Access can get the job done, is there a need for a more powerful and
> complicated product?
> 
> If we continue to build things with Access, are we going to be kicking
> ourselves 5 years from now?
> 
> These are all probably dumb questions.  Please cut me a little slack as many
> years of JCL, DB2, COBOL, BAL, etc have left me a bit feeble-minded  :-)
> 
> Thanks in advance for your ideas and perspectives on this topic.
> 
> Brad



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