January 16, 2009 at 3:10 pm
Yes and no.
I used to work for a not-for-profit company that had SQL Server and Access, but no decent devleopment tools. (Couldn't/wouldn't pay for decent MS tools, so had to do open source stuff for the most part).
I wrote a lot of Access Data Project (ADP) applications that actually worked out very well, even for pretty good sized databases. It worked by having all of the forms/business logic in Access, but the actual database being on SQL server.
It's a suprisingly good development environmentm and you can get a pretty powerful application (and reports) written pretty quickly.
The Redneck DBA
January 16, 2009 at 3:14 pm
Jason Shadonix (1/16/2009)
Yes and no.I used to work for a not-for-profit company that had SQL Server and Access, but no decent devleopment tools. (Couldn't/wouldn't pay for decent MS tools, so had to do open source stuff for the most part).
I wrote a lot of Access Data Project (ADP) applications that actually worked out very well, even for pretty good sized databases. It worked by having all of the forms/business logic in Access, but the actual database being on SQL server.
It's a suprisingly good development environmentm and you can get a pretty powerful application (and reports) written pretty quickly.
I'd say you were lucky, you controlled the development. Most Access applications are written by "Power Users" who "think" they are developers but really don't know what they are doing. That has been my experience for the most part, and there are excepts to the rules in this regard.
January 16, 2009 at 3:18 pm
Yea, we did have that problem a little bit.
We solved it by telling them any development they did would get lost the next time we did a software update.
Which was one of the cool things about the ADP solution...none of the actual data was stored in the file, so we could easily upgrade/have users on different versions without worrying about the data side of it.
In a couple of cases we would just create icons on their desktop that made it look like they were clicking on an access file, but actually it was a .bat file that would copy the .adp file onto their computer from a share that contained the most recent version, and then lanuch it.
That way they always had the most recent version, and were discouraged from trying to do things on their own.
The Redneck DBA
January 16, 2009 at 3:18 pm
Lynn Pettis (1/16/2009)
Jason Shadonix (1/16/2009)
Yes and no.I used to work for a not-for-profit company that had SQL Server and Access, but no decent devleopment tools. (Couldn't/wouldn't pay for decent MS tools, so had to do open source stuff for the most part).
I wrote a lot of Access Data Project (ADP) applications that actually worked out very well, even for pretty good sized databases. It worked by having all of the forms/business logic in Access, but the actual database being on SQL server.
It's a suprisingly good development environmentm and you can get a pretty powerful application (and reports) written pretty quickly.
I'd say you were lucky, you controlled the development. Most Access applications are written by "Power Users" who "think" they are developers but really don't know what they are doing. That has been my experience for the most part, and there are excepts to the rules in this regard.
When the whole Y2K thing was going on we actually upgraded all PC's in a hospital system and as part of that were also upgrading all the Access "Applications" that were floating around out there. We found over 200 "applications" that needed to be tweaked. Way fun. You would be surprised how many Docs want to be developers / IT guys.
David
@SQLTentmaker“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose” - Jim Elliot
January 16, 2009 at 3:54 pm
You would be surprised how many Docs want to be developers / IT guys.
Ahhhh..... remanesing ... My first job was a re-write of one AccessDB created by "smart" Doc !
* Noel
January 16, 2009 at 4:16 pm
I've done both Oracle and SQL Server and I'll take SQL Server any day. For my money, Oracle is needlessly complex, tool poor, and requires a significantly greater amount of on-going hand-holding than does SQL Server. For 99% of the universe of applications, the massive scalability that is Oracle's one significant advantage is not required.
And never having to deal with Oracle sales people, who are typically some sort of genetic cross between a shark and a leech, is a big plus.
Just my opinion, your milage may vary.
January 16, 2009 at 4:26 pm
Jason Shadonix (1/16/2009)
Hey! How come nobody is mentioning how good Access is!? :hehe:
Heh. Access really does have a place in its niche, but it doesn't stand with SQL Server or Oracle.
---
Timothy A Wiseman
SQL Blog: http://timothyawiseman.wordpress.com/
January 17, 2009 at 2:43 pm
what ever happened to informix databases? I did a little work with those when they was the backend for avaya phone systems.. supprised that hasnt been mentioned yet.
January 17, 2009 at 3:04 pm
Informix is dead, err I mean bought by IBM on 2001 😉
Gints Plivna
http://www.gplivna.eu
January 17, 2009 at 3:20 pm
gints.plivna (1/17/2009)
Informix is dead, err I mean bought by IBM on 2001 😉
Heh.. a death knell for sure... anyone remember Lotus 123 or Symphony? And, if you actually like Lotus Notes, please raise your hand. :hehe:
--Jeff Moden
January 17, 2009 at 6:10 pm
Heh... my first program was using punchcards on Unit Record equipment that was "programmed" by putting banana plug wires into a rather large phenolic board that got insert into the side of the machine with a fair amount of force. I don't believe I can come up with a picture because I'm not sure that film was actually invented then. :hehe: If you don't mind, I'll keep the year to myself...:P
--Jeff Moden
January 17, 2009 at 10:31 pm
Jeff Moden (1/17/2009)
gints.plivna (1/17/2009)
Informix is dead, err I mean bought by IBM on 2001 😉Heh.. a death knell for sure... anyone remember Lotus 123 or Symphony? And, if you actually like Lotus Notes, please raise your hand. :hehe:
As anyone every figured out why you don't here about viruses that target Notes? It's because it is a virus. Yes, a previous employer used it, and I think it stunk. People actually wrote applications that used it, and then we had to figure out how to extract the data into SQL databases.
January 18, 2009 at 3:19 am
Lynn Pettis (1/17/2009)
People actually wrote applications that used it, and then we had to figure out how to extract the data into SQL databases.
Dr that I mentioned earlier with Access. Same with Lotus notes. Gotta love that stuff. 🙂
David
@SQLTentmaker“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose” - Jim Elliot
January 18, 2009 at 8:11 am
gints.plivna (1/17/2009)
Informix is dead, err I mean bought by IBM on 2001 😉
IBM did not buy Informix, all Walmart time series and prediction modeling runs on Informix so when Informix is about to fold because few developers used the product Walmart told IBM your systems contract depends on Informix running as a business. IBM still runs that thing as a separate company to keep Walmart and now Amazon contracts because Amazon also uses the Informix Calculus engine. Amazon bought 25 Walmart Calculus employees Walmart sued and got Amazon cargo logistics another equally complex calculus in settlement.
Access and VFP are things Microsoft sells as database both are not relational.
Oracle and SQL Server Microsoft lost Jim Grey while Oracle's Jim Melton is still a with us hoping XML will do the relevant algebra.
:Whistling:
Kind regards,
Gift Peddie
January 18, 2009 at 9:04 am
There's still an Informix building here in Denver, pass it at times. It's supposed to be a great DW engine.
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