Access 2007

[Oaktree]

We have the sticky post regarding the new features in Excel 12, but has anyone heard what changes they're making to Access in the upcoming version of MS Office? If they're increasing Excel's capacity to >1MM rows, it seems they'd have to make some changes to keep Access' viability.

 

[Joe4]

Oaktree,

Simply increasing the number of rows in Excel is not enough to make Access obsolete. There are many things that Access does much better than Excel. Access is designed to be a relational database program, where Excel is not.

I use both programs extensively, and the increase in the number of rows in Excel will not "swing the balance" from Access to Excel for any Access applications I have written.

 

[Oaktree]

Jim4

You are, of course, right that there are times Access is preferred to Excel.
I wasn't really trying to spark an Excel vs. Access debate, but I think a lot of the "lightweight" reasons to use Access (e.g. overcoming the row limitation of Excel) could go away with the new version of Excel and subsequently reduce the demand for Access. I was really just curious if anyone knew about what they were changing in Access 2007 and if it was going to be getting as much of a facelift as Excel as perhaps an incentive to keep "lightweight" users interested in Access.

 

[Joe4]

Jim4

I make my name simpler, and people still can't get it right!

Oaktree,

From my experience with Excel & Access, I would say that only a very small minority of Access applications are built directly because of Excel's row limitation. So I think it would have a rather small impact on Access.

Most Access applications are built in Access simply because Access is better equipped to handle the task at hand. As matter of fact, I often see Excel questions posted on this board that would be much better handled in Access, but I rarely see the opposite (Access questions which would be better handled in Excel).

I would also say that if you have more than 65,536 rows of data, Excel may not be your best bet anyway! I am very interested to see what kind of performance these huge spreadsheets will have in Excel.

In case it sounds like I have an Access bias, rest assured that I do not. Excel is my favorite program and I prefer it to Access. But I work a lot with relational databases, and Access is quite simply better equipped for those sort of tasks then Excel.

 

[Joe4]

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Here is a link I found that talks about the changes to Access in 2007:
http://www.microsoft.com/office/preview/programs/access/highlights.mspx

 

[Oaktree]

I make my name simpler, and people still can't get it right!

No, I did that on purpose. I had the winking smiley guy because of my post at http://www.mrexcel.com/board2/viewtopic.php?t=223204 where I said:

Dyslexia will still prevail, so he'll probably get some j1m4 = Jim4's.

I think http://blogs.msdn.com/access/ (I guessed that this may be the compliment to David Gainer's extensive writeup at http://blogs.msdn.com/excel/) may be what I was looking for.

In any event, thanks for looking.

 

[Joe4]

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Wise guy, eh?
Yes, I should have known better!

It was interesting to see some of the changes they are making. Not sure I like all of them. One of my biggest pet peeves is how with each release they appear to try to "dumb it down" and use more "GUI Interfaces", pictures, and symbols. Give me the old classic view!

 

[Norie]

What about the apparent change that prevents interaction between Excel and Access?

I can't recall off the top of my head the exact details, or even if it's a new 'feature' but I'm sure I read something about it somewhere.

I'll see if I can find a link.

 

[Joe4]

I did hear something about that too, Norie.

I think it was you could still link Excel tables to Access, but you can no longer update one and have the other updated automatically.

Some kind of proprietary, legal mumbo-jumbo between the two programs, I think, which I find pretty stupid. They are both Microsoft programs, aren't they?

If I recall, I think it has already started in Version 2003 (or whatever the current release is).

I would love to get all the details (instead of all this hearsay), if you can find anything...

 

[Norie]

jm14

Yep, I think that's what I'm talking about.

I'll try and find a decent link but I'm just off out.

By the way I know that Excel and Access are both Microsoft applications but the actual technology behind some of their features wasn't actually developed by them, they just 'acquired' it.

I think that might be connected to the legal mumbo-jumbo you mention.

Anyways.