I sure hope I didn't start something. The context of the original post was where an Excel user was opening an Access db via Automation to preview reports. Presumably they would print it or do something else if what they saw was satisfactory. In that scenario, the target db is the one that contains all the reports to be viewed, so it isn't a matter of "is Access running", nor do I think that it's important if anyone else has the db open because it's task oriented to the user. What I thought was pertinent in this case was to test if the specific db was already open by that user. My take on the original code is that after a user reviews a report, there is the potential to open the same db to view another one because the report name was a variable, as I recall. It seems to me that it is sufficient to limit the test to the user's own pc - in this case. If it remained open and the action on the Excel side was repeated, you don't want to reopen the same db.
Unfortunately it seems that while composing in this forum you can't always see the entire thread so I can't review my initial post right now to see how badly (or not) I communicated the scenario. The replies are illuminating and apply to a slightly different interpretation of the original question, but it is all good stuff and I'm grateful for the edification. Just know that if a debate continues, it's about testing in a different scenario, which is still a good thing in my mind as there are others who will be able to take something away from a good discussion, regardless of which scenario they happen to be concerned with.