Man, Microsoft Access got a lot of well-deserved hate, but it was a very easy way for someone who didn’t really know what they were doing to set up a relational database.
But everyone thought, “We’ll just continue to treat Excel spreadsheets like a database, that’ll be fine.”
Access fills a very specific niche that is right in between “too big for Excel” and “too small for SQL Express”.
The problem is that this window is very narrow, and after just a small amount of growth, it suddenly makes sense to migrate again to proper SQL. In my(admittedly limited) experience it was almost always better to just skip Access.
Access is one of those programs that was a game changer in its day. Desktop databases became popular in the 80’s for orgs that either couldn’t afford or didn’t need a mainframe.
All the other competing desktop database systems were slow to transition from MS-DOS to Windows and Access offered quite a few features that the others didn’t have. Microsoft included Access with Office 95 and every office version thereafter. That pretty much wiped out the rest of the competition.
Access has just outlived it’s usefulness. Better solutions exist now. Microsoft seems aware of that since they’ve done basically nothing to it since 2016. They’re probably just keeping it around for the enterprise customers who are too stubborn to migrate off it yet.
Honestly, projects like AppSmith and Baserow are pretty good at this. Google AppSheet is by far the best implementation of this style of low-to-no-code app builders, but comes with the obvious caveat of being a Google product.
If someone managed to make an open-source solution as slick as Google’s, I’d be right on it. As it stands, all the competition that I’ve found requires a decent existing knowledge of SQL queries to run the widgets themselves.
I just did some digging and Grist actually seems to do most of what I need it to. There may be hope yet! It’s still not quite as slick as AppSheet, but may be a step in the right direction.
I ran into this working with a Fortune 500 company. I came into the job with an amateur experience with PHP and SQL, saw them trading around large amounts of daily info in Excel via email and the cloud and asked, why isn’t this in a proper database? I was told it was how it’s always been done and we couldn’t change it. So I did it that way, muttering how stupid it was. A clear example of what DIDN’T have to be an email.
Yup. I work in software that is used for blueprinting/designing, and also as a sales tool. So often the specs we get when asked to implement a new tool or product are, “Here’s the Excel sheet we use. Please make sure the software outputs to this Excel template.”
I used to teach Microsoft Access:
“Scan Database For Errors” returned 1 of 2 messages:
“No Errors Found”
“Errors Found”
Good luck!
Man, Microsoft Access got a lot of well-deserved hate, but it was a very easy way for someone who didn’t really know what they were doing to set up a relational database.
But everyone thought, “We’ll just continue to treat Excel spreadsheets like a database, that’ll be fine.”
Access fills a very specific niche that is right in between “too big for Excel” and “too small for SQL Express”.
The problem is that this window is very narrow, and after just a small amount of growth, it suddenly makes sense to migrate again to proper SQL. In my(admittedly limited) experience it was almost always better to just skip Access.
Access is one of those programs that was a game changer in its day. Desktop databases became popular in the 80’s for orgs that either couldn’t afford or didn’t need a mainframe.
All the other competing desktop database systems were slow to transition from MS-DOS to Windows and Access offered quite a few features that the others didn’t have. Microsoft included Access with Office 95 and every office version thereafter. That pretty much wiped out the rest of the competition.
Access has just outlived it’s usefulness. Better solutions exist now. Microsoft seems aware of that since they’ve done basically nothing to it since 2016. They’re probably just keeping it around for the enterprise customers who are too stubborn to migrate off it yet.
I wish there was something in between but based on SQLite.
Honestly, projects like AppSmith and Baserow are pretty good at this. Google AppSheet is by far the best implementation of this style of low-to-no-code app builders, but comes with the obvious caveat of being a Google product.
If someone managed to make an open-source solution as slick as Google’s, I’d be right on it. As it stands, all the competition that I’ve found requires a decent existing knowledge of SQL queries to run the widgets themselves.
The problem with using google instead of open source is that one day your shit suddenly has ads or ceases to exist.
I just did some digging and Grist actually seems to do most of what I need it to. There may be hope yet! It’s still not quite as slick as AppSheet, but may be a step in the right direction.
I taught both Access and Filemaker back in the day. Once people got into it they really got into it!
File Maker was amazing
I actually really liked both, but I’m a giant data nerd. LOL.
I was teaching Filemaker on 9/11. Day 1 was 9/10. Day 2:
“Ok, everyone knows what’s going on, if you need to leave, no penalty, you can come back at any time and re-take day 2 for free…”
Everyone stayed.
Meanwhile, a co-worker of mine was in the second tower teaching a class when the first tower got hit.
Word came down from the building that everyone should stay in place and he told his class quote: “Fuck that, everyone get out.”
Everyone lived. We couldn’t find out for like 2 weeks because the cell phones weren’t working.
I can’t imagine anyone alive has a more exciting Filemaker story? Probably literally.
I ran into this working with a Fortune 500 company. I came into the job with an amateur experience with PHP and SQL, saw them trading around large amounts of daily info in Excel via email and the cloud and asked, why isn’t this in a proper database? I was told it was how it’s always been done and we couldn’t change it. So I did it that way, muttering how stupid it was. A clear example of what DIDN’T have to be an email.
Yup. I work in software that is used for blueprinting/designing, and also as a sales tool. So often the specs we get when asked to implement a new tool or product are, “Here’s the Excel sheet we use. Please make sure the software outputs to this Excel template.”
Sounds like an easy win with the “No Errors Found”