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It’s a stupid question, I know.
I have almost no contact with MS Access. I know it is a database. Does it have anything special? Any Feature worthy of note? How does it work? What demands does it meet?
2 answers
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MS-Access is more or less equivalent to Excel and Word, but for database.
It has its own database format (MDB) where data, screens, reports, programs, etc. come together. But it can also be client of any database server via ODBC. Or you can separate the database in one MDB and the application in another MDB.
It was a popular platform, which promised a lot, in the 1990s for developing entire systems, as it is programmable using Visual Basic (which is also a popularity factor of Excel). There was a bit of an illusion at the time that small businesses could develop their own systems without the assistance of a professional developer.
It is a powerful tool but Excel prevailed as small business administration tool, since it is also scriptable and can also read databases, there is even a strong secondary market of spreadsheets and Excel plugins. Excel also has an intuitive interface (spreadsheet everybody knows, databases not so much) and the learning curve is more linear - in Access it is easy to do basic things, but when you need something a little more complex, the thing thickens very fast.
Apart from that, the complexity of the systems has increased a lot since then - in the 90s a small business had a computer, at most a handful connected via local network, nowadays when we talk about "system" we already assume Web access, remote access, high availability, etc. etc. however small the business is, then that illusion of "do-it-yourself" or hiring the nephew to do system over the weekend no longer exists.
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It gave a feeling already of what was MS Access... +1 and I will probably accept. I just think you missed a second paragraph detailing the first sentence of the answer.
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I will accept but be sure to note my comment just above. And thank you for the reply :)
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I did what you asked, if you want me to expand further to another direction.
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This particular question deserves an additional comment in the form of an answer (as I cannot comment yet) to 'Any of the French worthy of note?' and 'What demands he meets?'.
Even today I use Access a lot as a tool to build comfortable forms for the end user. However, tables (and even queries) are in an SQL server. Via ODBC connection, configured quickly on each user’s computer, all having access to the same SQL base. In each terminal I install an Access 2007, in case the user has not installed it.
The solution always seemed current. And it will continue to do so until Google releases something equivalent to operate in conjunction with Google-Spreadsheets and Google-Form.
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Relevant answer. Interesting to know that Access is still used as "SQL client" in the corporate environment.
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Just as every tool can become legacy, I believe that Msaccess already is! It should only "exist" still because older systems may use it, maybe it has specific functionalities, but I do not believe that this is the reason why it is still used eventually.
– Guilherme Nascimento
I mean, I didn’t lose anything :D kthxbai
– Piovezan
It is not a stupid question, although it may be negative because the answers will be basically opinionated, as mine was...
– epx
@epx I find interesting questions about old things, pq aggregate knowledge.
– Sam
It’s like "MS Paint," but for the database.
– Bacco
Kkkkk x 3 (15 characters minimum length)
– Piovezan