[AccessD] Access Development Future

[Bill Benson]

AI is writing all of my code these days in a C sharp.net program that will
manage vba protection and project viewability. I agree with a former
comment that you often get lied to both in terms of what can be done AND
what can’t be done. Not only that, what is is NOT willing to do then can be
talked into doing (I am writing a tool that removes VBA password protection
and makes “unviewable” projects viewable so that businesses can then manage
files using governed passwords or flexibly making projects unviewable until
needing changes, then unviewable once code is in production. Claude won’t
help at all with it other than critique what ChatGPT has done, ChatGPT has
toggled between unhelpful to helpful and back and forth several times
leaving me in doubt that I will find the product maintainable once in
public release. “I’m sorry, Bill but I am not going to be able to do that.”
“Thanks for the rug pull HAL”.

On Mon, Oct 26, 2026 at 9:49 AM Jim Dettman via AccessD <
accessd at databaseadvisors.com> wrote:

> David,
>
>  I'm down to one client as I am in the process of retiring.
>
>  Most that I had moved on to web based solutions and that certainly is the
> way the world is going, or using SAAS, which is usually outside the realm
> of
> what a typical Access developer can offer (1-3 person IT shop).   I think
> there is still a niche in the SMB market as there is a lack of developers
> learning Access, and many of the current ones are retiring, and as you
> said,
> not everyone can use the latest tech nor do everything on-line or in the
> cloud.  Microsoft also continues to add new features to Access: modern
> charts, zooming, breaking the 22" design limit, etc, which has been
> surprising given the size of the Access team (they are doing a fantastic
> job
> considering the resources they have to work with).
>
>  However, with all that said, I don't know how long that niche will last.
> COM being depreciated in 2029 will be the biggest issue if Microsoft
> doesn't
> change their mind.  There are solutions/work arounds that are being
> developed (calling API's), but life will change drastically for Access
> apps,
> and some may not survive ("well if it's going to break that much, we might
> as well re-write it in something else").   Thing is though, there's still
> nothing like Access on the market, and many still live on the desktop
> despite what Microsoft would like to see.   OWA for example is so lacking
> in
> features compared to the desktop, that it's rare I find anyone using it.
> It is slowly getting better, but it still has a way to go to match the
> desktop version.
>
>  The other issue with Access based apps is Cyber Insurance.  That's
> becoming
> almost a given with any company, and few insurance companies like seeing an
> Access app because of the lack of security.   Many of the applications
> developed in the past (i.e. a health care clinic), would never fly in
> today's time with a cyber insurance policy in place (or the company would
> pay a hefty premium).
>
>  AI for me is a non-starter.   I think it's great when generalizing things,
> but even with that, you need to be extremely careful even with that.  I've
> often found things stitched together with a "yes, that can be done" when in
> fact it cannot.    As far as coding?   So far I'm not impressed.   I know
> there are several Access developers working with AI, and the demo's I've
> seen, like adding a field to a table and a form, takes 30 minutes by the
> time they go through all the gyrations.  You often hear the the term
> "mis-aligned" now, which means "oops, it did something it wasn't supposed
> to
> do.     And with AI, unless it's a small snippet of code, it doesn't always
> do a good job.    I think AI has been way over-hyped for what it can do at
> the present time.
>
> FWIW,
> Jim.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: AccessD On Behalf Of David Emerson
> Sent: Sunday, October 25, 2026 5:26 PM
> To: accessd at databaseadvisors.com
> Subject: [AccessD] Access Development Future
>
> Greetings Listers,
>
>
>
> All has been quiet on the Access front.
>
>
>
> I am interested on how many of us are still supporting Access applications?
> Has AI made a major difference to existing client databases or is there
> still a niche for our work in smaller businesses that don't have the funds
> to take advantage of the latest technologies?
>
>
>
> Regards
>
>
>
> David Emerson
>
> Dalyn Software Ltd
>
> Adelaide, Australia
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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