> From: Doug Chamberlin <dchamberlin@ne.mediaone.net>

> >Quite frankly I would change professions if you tried to force
> me to use a
> >tool like Access.
>
> He's not talking about professional developers, that's for sure,
> so no need
> to rant, Jason. He's talking about the casual developers

I agree totally. I gave up on using Interbase on a large research project
because the learning curve for the other consultants on that project was too
high and the links with Access too flakey.

These were extremely bright people who were wizards at using MS Excel.
(Un)fortunately the size of the data sets meant that they had to learn what
a database could do for them. Access is excellent in this regard since it
carries across a whole load of Spreadsheet functionality which makes it
easier for people to take the leap.

This was not about a full featured application development, it was about
collecting data from a reseach endeavour and then using it to answer
questions. This is the kind of thing that Access is used for all the time.
In the area that we do a lot of consulting these collections are getting
bigger and bigger (mostly because it is getting cheaper and cheper to
collect a lot of data) and Access is bursting at the seams. A cheap,
reliable alternative that can leverage off existing investment is a very
appealing prospect.

I stress that we would never start a new C/S project with Access as the
front end, however there are plenty of existing DB's out there which are
ripe for upsizing. Microsoft is positioning itself nicely to grab a huge
part of this market in Access 2000 by providing a mini MSSQL back end with
that product and integrating it with Access. Interbase will have to try
pretty hard to compete with that.

Cheers
Adam Clarke
Principal
Strategic Data Pty Ltd

Ph : +61 (3) 9348-2013
Fax: +61 (3) 9348-2015
Mob: 0419 304-590
Email: Adam.Clarke@StrategicData.com.au
Web: http://www.StrategicData.com.au/
Post: P.O. Box 4262
Melbourne University, VIC 3052
Australia