Access - Devastation

[NauticalGent]

Shared from Daniel Pineault's site:

 

[Gasman]

Must be bad if he is posting stuff like that.
I did see a post of his, with those sentiments on UA as well.

 

[NauticalGent]

Must be bad if he is posting stuff like that.

Quite right. Read the comments, seems he is already not recommending Access to new clients. Makes me wonder what which FE I should start learning for my clients who use SQLServer/SP BE's...

 

[KD.Gundermann]

Must be bad if he is posting stuff like that.

Yes after the update desaster last week today our Access ERP application has stopped working again

 

[isladogs]

Sadly, Daniel has become quite cynical and jaundiced about Access in recent years.
Although I can understand his POV, I don't have the same opinion overall.

 

[NauticalGent]

Although I can understand his POV, I don't have the same opinion overall.

I hope you are right...

 

[KitaYama]

Lately I see so many complaints about bugs in Microsoft updates.
But unfortunately most people forget how quick a patch or another update is out to cover the bug. (though the new update may cause another problem). At least Microsoft is quick. They listen to the submitted complaints and do their best to correct their mistakes as soon as possible.

You may not know, But for those of us who work in CAD systems, every update is a disaster. Last January D'assault published a new update that caused Catia & Solidworks ( 2 most famous CAD software) fail to create mirror parts. Ever since they have sent out 3 service packs to correct the problem, but not only these service packs weren't able to correct the bug, they added new problems. Now even Pack & Go doesn't work. If I want to translate it to Access language, it's like you can not create a new database.
Last week they announced they can not correct the issue until the end of the year. A licence of Solidworks costs between $7,000 to $10,000 per year plus a $2500 mainenance fee. Now you can imagine the damage to a company with 10 seats of a system that wil not be functional for a whole year.

So, although I don't know who Daniel is, But I really like to sit and talk to him how other companies' updates are.

 

[Pat Hartman]

@KitaYama are you at least able to revert to previous versions?

 

[KitaYama]

@KitaYama are you at least able to revert to previous versions?

It's not impossible, but very hard to maintain. Recent CAD systems come with SQL Server database as a file manager. The most used system is PDM. When we create a new design or a new assembly or part, we have to save them in PDM. They manage the security (who can access, edit, view) plus they also manage the drawings revisions and the version of software they've been worked on. So going back to a previous update is not as easy as Office. A whole system should be revert.
As I said, it's not impossible, but for example for our company with 10 seats and 15 engineer, it may take several day. And it stops the manufacturing line. Most personal on the line, use eDrawing to view drawings (instead of printed drawings). If the system is under maintenance, no body has access to the drawings and designs.

We prefer to use work arounds instead of revert the version. Why? because we really don't know if a new version works or not. As I explained there's been several patches and service packs up to now to correct the case, but they didn't.
Imagine with each service pack, we upgrade, we recognize the problem exists, and we uninstall the service pack. How many times we can go this rout?
For most companies I know, using back doors and work arounds is better than stopping the production line.

 

[Pat Hartman]

If you have some indication whether the update involved a schema change or not that would be helpful. I understand, backing out a schema change would be a nightmare and also potentially involve loss of data.

I've only used CAD systems from the other end. My clients got the images as PDFs and my app processed KSS files to log the drawings into our Drawing Log application.

 

[KitaYama]

PDM is a very complicated system. Unfortunately we don't have any information on it nor know how it works. The system normally is setup and maintenanced by specialist from VAR.

 

[Ari]

I've been working with MS Access for 20 years. I have a website here in Brazil about MS Access and the majority of participants who register are over 50 years old. And I can say categorically, MS Access has its days numbered. I have a degree in Electronic Engineering and I recently offered a stock control application (open source) in one of the most prestigious international forums on electronics. See for yourself the level of rejection I got for using MS Access even though it's the free app.

A small (open source) Inventory Control application using Ms Access. - Page 1

A small (open source) Inventory Control application using Ms Access. - Page 1

www.eevblog.com

Avelino

 

[Gasman]

Strangely enough someone was recently looking to create an Inventory Control system.

 

[Pat Hartman]

I can't believe the person complained about the ability to create a form Clearly, he has never used Access.

I would suggest that you don't even mention Access. Just package the app with the current runtime version and install both. Don't assume that people have Access installed. Even if their O365 version comes with Access doesn't mean they installed it. Remember, Access runs on the local machine not in the cloud like the other Office apps.

MS Access has its days numbered.

Access is 30 years old. That is positively ancient in dog years. When there is something better available to replace it, it will fade away.

 

[CJ_London]

‘When’ being the operative word

 

[GPGeorge]

To my way of thinking, one of the more tragic aspects of the recent series of bug releases is that Microsoft has conditioned thousands, if not millions, of users and developers to think, "Uh, oh. A problem. Must be a new bug from Microsoft."

Instead of investigating a potential problem of our own making, we throw up our hands and blame Microsoft, again.

We can offer multiple attempts to refute the claims of "Access is dying" by citing things like this page, but the overwhelming impression is now, "Microsoft no longer cares much about Access, does it?"

I agree with Pat, it's going to take a "killer app" to replace Access, but if and when it comes along, there will be an army of frustrated Access developers headed for the exits.

 

[coypu]

Perhaps we could persuade MS to make Access open source, letting the community look after and develop it?

 

[AccessBlaster]

Yes, put it on Github or something like that.

 

[Pat Hartman]

That would be too wonderful to even think about. The MS marketing team doesn't have a clue that Access exists, let alone what it is useful for. That should tell you everything you need to know.

 

[isladogs]

Perhaps we could persuade MS to make Access open source, letting the community look after and develop it?

Great idea! If only ....