Re: MS Access usefulness and size restrictions

In article <9ft7vq$c55_at_dispatch.concentric.net>, wayne <no_at_email.please.com> writes
>> What other product in market has that kind of nice mix?
>
>You're talking about a "nice mix" Access does not have! It if a facade!
>

Access comes with MSDE. Fact. MSDE is a throttled version of SQL Server. Fact. You can take the data from MDSE and move it to SQL Server Datacentre without redesigning the database. Fact.

If there is a facade then please explain, with verifiable facts, what it is.
>
>> And 2) The nature of Access is to want to do everything for
>> > you, so writing SQL pass-through queries and making it all work
 flawlessly
>> > is not trivial in Access.

Is anything trivial in Oracle? Writing a bullet-proof application using any front-end/back-end combination is not trivial.

>(Just based on my experiences and those of my
>> > colleagues).

A couple of weeks ago I was manipulating data and adding tables to an Oracle database using Access.

>> As compared to what?.It is only a big task to those lack the skills.
>
>Or those who want to do it quickly.
>
>> In
>> addition, the current version of Access allows you to develop in manor
 that
>> will scale correctly (that is what the MDSE is all about....it is a sql 7
>> compatible server.). Any ADP projects should be created with this in mind.
>
>That is exactly why I suggested MSDE and was telling the guy to avoid
>Access. MSDE and Access are two separate things!

In that case, how come they arrive on the same CD and Access has a front-end type specifically designed to work with MSDE?

The truth is that Access and Jet are just as separate as Access and MSDE. How great you view that separation to be is up to you.
>
>
>> Ok, I understand now...however, I am not convinced on that one. Clipper
>> stored data as a fixed length, where as Access uses a variable length
 record
>> structure.
>
>Given all the data corruption that results, I would say this is a huge
>liability.
>
>Also, if I import Clipper data into MS Access I end up taking up more space.
>What's the great thing about that?
>
>> To come here and boast about clipper being solid, and then ignore people
 who
>> have had in excess 100 people using access without a server is really
>> puffing.
>
>Just talking about my own experiences with it. I have had crises inthe past
>with Access and the best solution has been to turn Access-based application
>into Oracle ones. Access simply buckles under heavier loads.

You're talking about Jet here, not Access.
>

 <...>
>>If you need
>> something larger, then scale up to a larger server....but the fact is,
 that
>> Access does ship with a server engine.
>
>Not really. If you are talking baout MSDE, then get it from
>msdn.midrosoft.com, it does not come with Access itself.

Don't talk rubbish. It's been on the Access CDs since Access 2000 came out.

If you are so ignorant of Access and its facilities that you don't know that then your opinions on other matters may be less than reliable.

> OK maybe in Office
>XP it may be packaged in?
>
>> Again, that nonsense if you use the MDSE. The real issue here is to create
 a
>> ADP project for use with MDSE for a small design, you end up with
 something
>> that works for larger design.
>
>Look, we were talking baout Access as a back-end. You're just shifting the
>point here; answering a different question.
>

Access is either "everything that comes on the Access CDs" or the front- end development tool. You can't buy Jet on its own.

The most widely used back-end to Access is Jet, but that doesn't mean that it is the only one. I've used Access against Oracle, SQL Server, Interbase and Pervasive SQL (spit!).

-- 
Albert Marshall
Database Developer
Marshall Le Botmel Ltd
01242 222017