Mark Breen
marklbreen at gmail.com
Mon Jul 1 02:47:29 CDT 2013
Hi Rocky, I just saw you post about Alpha Anywhere. Have you used it ? Do you know anyone that is using it ? Hope all is great ? Mark On 18 June 2013 16:25, Rocky Smolin <rockysmolin at bchacc.com> wrote: > Does Alpha support relational db back ends? > > r > > -----Original Message----- > From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com > [mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Arthur Fuller > Sent: Tuesday, June 18, 2013 8:22 AM > To: Access Developers discussion and problem solving > Subject: Re: [AccessD] Good Feelings To All > > Tony, > > I can speak only for myself, but since I declared my retirement, I have > found life a whole lot more fun than pretty much the four decades since I > graduated from university. I have a lot less money now than in those > decades, but I am lots happier than since my days in university, which were > perhaps the most fun years of my life. My current stage in life is a close > second. I'm learning Mandarin, reading 2-3 books a week, working on my next > HBO-style saga about the history of Chinese crime in Canada, and > rediscovering Mozart, to whom I have previously given short shrift in > favour > of Beethoven. In my retirement years, I have never felt more energetic and > less pressured by deadlines. I love it. > > I suppose that some people feel useless upon retirement, but I am not one > of > those. I've shrunk the needs to spend and negated the desire to keep up > with > the Joneses. I've discarded the huge majority of my material possessions, > either by sale or donation to the library or Value Village, and the net > result is that I feel more free than I have felt in the past 3 decades at > minimum. > > Recently an old client called me to request a few enhancements to the app I > wrote for him. The code began in about 2005 and I've done a few weeks work > on it every year since. It's a complex app and he is a terrific friend, so > there's no way in the world that I would abandon my end of the canoe. > > There are two other things happening in terms of gigs: > > I'm mentoring a guy in San Francisco who I think holds the world record for > largest Access app ever written. Using MZTools, I determined that the total > line count of VBA code was 700K. There are ~360 tables, and a MySQL back > end. (He approached me because he bought our book on MySQL ( > www.artfulsoftware.com). > > I created a Volunteer-management app with an Access FE and a SQL Server BE, > for an NPO that handles housing for the aged and infirm. I volunteered to > do > this because I recognize the value of their work. The hourly rate on this > gig is $0. Prior to my retirement, I would never have had the time to do > such a project, despite my empathy for their work. Now that I have retired > from the coding business, I have lots of hours to throw against such a > benevolent project. In about two months, following local testing, we'll > roll > this baby out to ~300 offices in ~20 cities. It's part of my "Giving Back" > strategy in my semi-retirement. > > I still do (very) occasional maintenance on Access projects, but have > shifted my focus to Alpha Five. I'm on the beta team for Alpha Anywhere, > soon to be released. In a word, it is awesome. "Anywhere" means just that: > write a web app once and it will run in any browser, plus tablet and smart > phone. Or, alternatively, write a traditional desktop app. I am still > mid-project on my first Alpha Anywhere app. It took me a while to decide > upon what to write in it, but finally it occurred to me that I have the > perfect app to try out on this new platform (perfect meaning the existing > Access app I've written for a client who could most profit by the > transition > to smart phone and tablet). In terms of complexity, I'd call it > middle-level. It's an app for safety inspection engineers. In case you > don't > know what they are, they visit factories and take measurements at every > workstation (drill, press, robot) and pass or fail their current setup, > supplying recommendations for how to fix any detected problems. The client > who commissioned this app currently lugs a laptop around from station to > station. Recently I gave him a glimpse of the new version, written in the > beta of Alpha Anywhere. I showed him how it runs on my Nexus > 7 and he was blown away. > > In full disclosure, as a member of the beta team at Alpha, I am not paid > for > my time and since it's privately held, own no shares and the above should > be > considered my objective opinion, not a propaganda piece. The simple fact is > that should any potential Access gigs come my way in the future, I will > discourage Access as the vehicle and suggest Alpha instead, for two > reasons: > it is wayyyy more powerful than Access, and it beautifully supports > desktop, > web, smart phone and tablet. > > I'm doing the port of the aforementioned safety-engineering app on my > nickel. The client didn't request it; it just struck me as the perfect > example of what to gain by having an app written once that can run on all > these platforms. It's also an excellent excuse to keep programming, but > with > the virtue that there is neither a deadline nor a project manager nagging > me. > > I repeat that I have nothing to gain personally from my endorsement of > Alpha > 5 and the forthcoming Alpha Anywhere. But this is my endorsement: > don't wait for Microsoft to release some sort of Access equivalent, Visit > the AlphaSoftware.com web site and download a trial and see for yourself > how > superior it is. Nuff said. > > > > On Mon, Jun 17, 2013 at 10:39 AM, Tony Septav <TSeptav at uniserve.com> > wrote: > > > Hey Guys > > > > I think we have become dinosaurs, our time has come and gone. Yes they > > may be some of you that are still being profitable with ACCESS projects > but > > let's be honest............... Sorry not trying to be the "Grim > Reaper". > > Getting that old wiener wagon and hanging out at the beach and > > watching wave babies is looking better all the time. The only problem > > is I am to old to remember what to do with a wave baby. > > > > > > > > Tony Septav > > > > Nanaimo, BC > > > > Canada > > > > -- > > AccessD mailing list > > AccessD at databaseadvisors.com > > http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/accessd > > Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com > > > > > > -- > Arthur > Cell: 647.710.1314 > > Prediction is difficult, especially of the future. > -- Niels Bohr > -- > 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 >