jack drawbridge
jackandpat.d at gmail.com
Fri Mar 1 11:01:12 CST 2013
I guess it a sign of the times, and for those of us who have been around a while, it does provide some humor. But this seems to be a growing trend on many of the forums in which I participate. They have 6 tables, a bunch of data,but no awareness of a project plan, a conceptual design, interaction with the user, a high level data model (artist's concept of the new house sort of thing"). The biggest concern is how to store a calculated value in a table; followed by "What's a query?" It won't be for another month or so till they ask about relationships and/or naming convention. I'm also on a list where some of the M$oft specialists are having difficulty with Office365, Sharepoint and some options that were shown at the recent Summit Conference. I mention this to show some of the issues that I see in my limited scope. My interpretation of these is that M$oft is selling/marketing some of the Office "stuff" including Access to end users as a solution to database. The "users"/"company management" see the ads for software and believe that the software solves the business issue. The M$oft specialist are busy promoting another new product/concept/approach -- too busy to listen to the hard core users. The M$oft motto may be --We're selling sizzle not steak. It's confusing, just as we are questioning AccessD, M$oft is promoting these tools to "users/management", but at the same time I'm seeing MVP's asking (M$oft and AccessTeam) to put more emphasis on the capabilities of ACCESS and be respectful of the installed base. I realize M$oft is a business and must continue with products/services. But is it leaving existing customers behind, mostly abandoned? Sure there are other products - move to SQL Server, move to Sharepoint. But move often means more dollars, more training, more software/hardware purchases, conversion, change in processes - at a time when the economy isn't great. I don't see anyone, other than M$oft, touting this latest round of offerings. Maybe there is some humor in that, but I think for many of us, we've seen at least one cycle of this merry-go-round, and we're unsure if we should jump off now, or go for another ride. On Fri, Mar 1, 2013 at 11:01 AM, Tina Norris Fields < tinanfields at torchlake.com> wrote: > Jack, you made me laugh right out loud with this one: > > <snip> > > > These users seem to feel that- now that they have the Access software, the > databases will just > get generated.???? no concepts, no plans,... > > </snip > > I was teaching a Lotus 1-2-3 class in the summer of 1995 (DOS version), > especially important for students who were enrolling in the college's > accounting courses. As we began, I was offering examples of problems to be > easily solved using formulas in 1-2-3. Describing several Girl Scouts with > differing numbers of boxes of cookies to sell, I started making the formula > to calculate the total number of dollars each Girl Scout was responsible > for, noting that it was a simple algebraic expression. From the back of > the room came the outraged cry, "Algebra! Nobody told me I would need > algebra for this!" Stunned, I asked the young lady why that would be a > problem, for surely she had learned algebra in high school. No, she had > not. Algebra was not required in her high school curriculum. Now, > remember, this young lady intended to pursue an accounting degree. She > needed to be able to craft formulas in a spreadsheet, and she had no > knowledge of algebra. I asked her gently how she expected to proceed. She > declared that she expected the program to figure out how to set up the > formulas, because that was what she understood its usefulness to be. I > don't know how she expected to tell the program what the problem to be > solved was, but it had never dawned on her that she had any responsibility > to think her way through the solution process. > > Thanks for the memory and the laugh - bittersweet though it is. > > T > > Tina Norris Fields > tinanfields-at-torchlake-dot-**com > 231-322-2787 > > > On 2/21/2013 1:44 PM, jack drawbridge wrote: > >> And many of the forums from my view seem to have a large percentage of new >> users. Usually students doing assignments, or the self learning group that >> has never heard of normalization, relationships... They all seem to >> Acc2010 or 2013, and most have installed the 64 bit version, and have the >> latest hardware. Their big issue is how to update a "cell", or how to >> write >> SQL. Most have never heard of a data model (or ERD). These users seem to >> feel that- now that they have the Access software, the databases will just >> get generated.???? no concepts, no plans,... >> Seems they are still teaching using Access n some schools, but none of the >> database/relational theory. Many have never heard of Normalization. I >> had >> one (British hair salon owner trying to deal with appointments, staff >> availability and products) who accused me of "hijacking" his thread >> because >> I asked what his core business was and could he post a jpg of his tables >> and relationships etc.. I asked about his core business and asked if he >> should be running the salon/cutting hair etc, and should he be building >> the >> database or hire a contractor. He also said he didn't know what a data >> model was and certainly had no need of one now and my questions weren't >> helping him He needed to know how to write a query to add totals into one >> of his tables.. >> >> I think AccessD, and I have been a long time lurker/learner with few >> posts, is far beyond these basics. When a discussion or issue is raised, >> it >> is usually meaningful, thought out and relevant. Perhaps we have mostly >> beaten the variety of syntax issues, and 99 ways to skin the cat, and >> there >> are no longer the numerous, more mundane issues for resolution. >> >> I'm not sure what exactly would revamp/reface/re-energize AccessD. I like >> John's blog. Perhaps the Ruby on Rails or other topics as has been >> suggested. However, I feel that may not get a broad take up. I'm retired; >> have been for 5 years, my Access is typically helping people on the >> forums. >> As has been pointed out, many here are 40+ (maybe 50+), with diverse jobs. >> And some have been forced to look for new opportunities to use their >> skills.I don't see a lot of people jumping to Acc2013 or Sharepoint, and I >> personally have no real interest there. >> >> Any way, just a little rambling to feed the pot. >> >> jack >> >> > -- > AccessD mailing list > AccessD at databaseadvisors.com > http://databaseadvisors.com/**mailman/listinfo/accessd<http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/accessd> > Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.**com<http://www.databaseadvisors.com> >