Question Running Access under Windows 8

[connexion]

I am running a split Access 2003 database (as part of Office 2003) under windows XP.

I know I should have moved to windows 7 and Office 2007/2010 well before now but I'm looking into all upgrade options at the moment prior to support for windows XP being discontinued in 2014.

Since support for windows 7 ends in 2020 I have as I see it a massive breathing space by simply upgrading from XP to windows 7 but I'm pondering the "leap" to windows 8. I'm trying to get an idea of the work involved in upgrading everything.

There doesn't seem to be much information out there on MS Access running under windows 8. Has anyone found any good sources of information or is anyone currently running a version of Access/Office under windows 8 successfully or otherwise?

Any feedback would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Vince

 

[connexion]

Thanks for the reply Pat.

I kind of thought I'd end up looking at A2010 running on Windows 7.

I'm interested to see what A2013 has in store but I suspect jumping to that without facing conversion issues is more than a distinct possibility.

Ironically for a microsoft product those of us who love and want to stick with Access in a tablet driven world are having to work harder rather than smarter!

 

[Galaxiom]

Upgrades with Microsoft now seem to involve removing more features than they add.

The one that really "surprised" (using a nicer word than my initial reaction) me with Windows7 was the deprecation of "Remember Each Folder's View Settings" under Folder Options. Now the folders just open on top of the last one regardless of where they were last closed.

They aslo removed the interface to edit the Explorer context menus so you have to either edit the registry manually or get a 3rd party app like Nirsoft's FileTypesManager.

 

[connexion]

I have looked briefly at the list of deprecated items and to my total surprise so far there are no big shocks! Looks like decisions such as building my own calendar rather than relying on the control were a good move after all!

If only Microsoft knew how good access was! It should be aimed more directly at SME's who aren't that willing or able to play "catch up" with the front runners who buy the latest everything because it looks cool rather than because it works better!

With something like 60% of business users still preferring to stick with Windows XP I think ending support in 2014 is mad, they should keep it for a while and offer the opportunity to purchase continued support annually. I imagine at £25 a pop (which would be very reasonable in my view) it would generate quite a significant income for a good few years to come!

 

[Galaxiom]

It costs to keep on maintaining an operating system particularly when it doesn't have a framework to support the kinds of features available in later versions.

The security structures and video performance in Vista and 7 is streets ahead of XP.

There comes a time to move on.

 

[connexion]

I agree there does come a time to move which is why I posted my initial question.