>Tim,
>
> >Most people will want to use access as a front end and
> >interbase as the back end.
>
>Pardon me but what *people* are you talking about?

It's like this. MS suckers you into using access because it's very easy to
build a quick and dirty database app using no code whatsoever. I know of
literally hundreds of small businesses who run their business on access.
Sooner or later they reach the limits of access and access becomes slow,
unstable, and crash prone. At this point they seek to upsize their
database. Here MS points them at SQL server and says. Here put your data
here and keep using Access as a front end. You will have better concurrency
and can get bigger tables and better performance (all true) but you won't
have to redo all your forms, reports and queries. Access hooks up to SQL
server using ODBC or ADO and no changes are made to the front end software.

If IB is to compete in this arena it faces a couple of hurdles. One is that
Access does it's collation (where clauses, order bys) in a case insensitive
manner just like MSSQL server. Two is that SQL server and access both can
support object names of up to 255 characters.
Without those two "freatures" there is no compelling need to use anything
except ms sql server. Anything else will require redoing entire front end
and doing insane search and replaces with object names. Believe me nobody
wants to go through that hassle in access unless they absolutely positively
have to.

>How is Delphi no match for Access?

Delphi is more stable, and is faster (execution speed) but Delphi requires
a programmer. Your average business person can build an application in
Access but can not build one in Delphi. An experienced Access developer can
build an application in Access much faster then an experienced Delphi
developer can.

>Quite frankly I would change professions if you tried to force me to use a
>tool like Access.
>
>Pardon the rant...

You are entirely justified in your rant. Notice I said nothing about the
quality of the end product only the ability to generate it fast and make
rapid changes to it as your business needs change without having to hire a
programmer. For a lot of business people being able to adapt fast and
cheaply is a more desirable goal then building a "real" application that
does not crash once a day. This is just the reality of life.

I believe IB has a real market here in the upsizing realm but not till it's
"compatible" with access or paradox.