Re: Converting Access database to SQL server or Informix

In article <35a4dc1f.23061218@news.newmedia.no>, Nils.Myklebust@nmdata.com (Nils Myklebust) wrote: > One day you'll possibly also want to move away from MS Access as a > front end tool. It's fine for small things, but it definitely have > it's limitations. Even using Visual Basic would be much better. Moving > the application from MS Access to Visual basic, probably a pease at a > time, may not be too hard. You may retain reports and some other > things in MS Access, but create your user interface in Visual Basic I'd surely appreciate some specifics about why one might want/need to move away from Access as a front end tool. I keep hearing people say this, but usually they are quite vague about the _reasons_ that Access would become unsuitable as a client application. I do know that creating the same client application in Visual Basic as the ones I've worked on would be far more expensive in time, effort, and third-party controls. As far as I can see, there _is_ no acceptable substitute for Access reporting available to the VB developer. > As your database grows you may also find it advantageous to create > server side applications or even multi tier applications. At that time > you should take a hard look at Java for development. That's the time > you sure want to leave Microsoft behind. They haven't done anything > worthwhile with or in Java. At that time another engine may also prove > a significant advantage. Using Informix you will even have the option > of going to the Universal Server Option giving you significant > advantages at the engine side. Assuming the server-side applications are not intended to run on Unix, why would I want to learn yet another language, an interpreted (or emulated, as someone strongly claimed, as though there was a universal definition) one, at that? With the VB language that we know (and of which we use a goodly subset, VBA, in Access) we can create COM components, and we could, if we so desired, even run our Access apps under Citrix WinFrame or Microsoft Terminal Server plus Citrix Mega-whatever). If you are tempted to quote "Write Once, Run Anywhere", please spare us... laughing so hard tends to hurt our ribs. It's almost as funny as the oxymoron "The Unix Standard". P.S., I agree, from personal experience, that Informix is a solid, reliable, heavy-duty, industrial-strength server. I also observe that it "demands" a bit more tender loving care in maintenance and administration than some other server databases, and the details of its structure, constraints, relationships, etc., are somewhat less accessible to us poor members of the Great Unwashed Desktop Database Developer community. _Not_, according to reports, quite so demanding or inaccesible as one or two others of that class of server database, I'll admit. However, let me also acknowledge that with each release, MS SQL Server has extended its scope both on the "high-end" in competition with Informix and Oracle, and on the "low-end" with more features for the Great Unwashed (see above). Gee, I even heard, on good authority, that the beta of Access 9 comes with a desktop Developer Edition of SQL Server that will run on Win 95/98 as well as Win NT. -----== Posted via Deja News, The Leader in Internet Discussion ==----- http://www.dejanews.com/rg_mkgrp.xp Create Your Own Free Member Forum