Erik, I'm relieved you are still continuing on with the blog. The free Access 2007 runtime and developer extensions is really great news! I am very much looking forward to hearing anything you can tell us about the future direction of MS Access. Cheers,

Chris.

Hi Erik, welcome back, I share Chris's thoughts.

This is great news. I can't wait to try out the source control outside of source safe.

Hello all, I've read the last few months' worth of posts and share the disappointment expressed re: SharePoint, replication, etc. Obviously MS must cater two types of users: non-database app developers who use spreadsheets for flat file databases and who need to be able to get their data onto the web; and database developers who understand relationality, replication, transactions, etc. MS appears to be favoring the first group because they outnumber the second group by 2 or 3 orders of magnitude. Now that MS has satisfied the lay folk, here is how it should return the loyalty of Access developers around the world: 1) Next version must be the killer version: single-click web deployment of entire Access database application, including tables, datasheets, queries, reports, forms and even online graphical schema design view with zero feature loss. (Don't ask me how; just do it!) 2) The resulting web app version must run without modification in major browsers on all major platforms and feature automatic smart form sizing/control spacing. 3) Replication and transactions must be supported. 4) In exchange for these features, charge a reasonable premium for this developer's edition. Even deployment royalties would be ok with me. Just let me focus on my application, let me build it once and I'll pass on the costs to the client! MS has the talent and the cash to develop or buy the requisite technology. More important, providing this functionality will honor MS's mission of enabling us to develop great solutions! I CRINGE to think of the great software that goes undeveloped because of the difficulty of getting truly rich apps onto the Internet. I'll bet it actually has a measurable impact on gross national (and even global) productivity, let alone lost lives and other lost opportunities. But if MS can't or won't do this, we will be forced to look at competitors like FileMaker, Alpha 5 ver. 8, etc. (Any other recommendations?) So, Chris and Erik, take these hints to heart... tell us what you can about the future... and give us reason to believe! RK

espero porder aprovechar los servido que presten con esta utilidad ya que sera de gran ayuda dne el futuro de los desarrallos de access

turday, February 03, 2007 10:34 PM by Richard Kahn Hello all, I've read the last few months' worth of posts and share the disappointment expressed re: SharePoint, replication, etc. Obviously MS must cater two types of users: non-database app developers who use spreadsheets for flat file databases and who need to be able to get their data onto the web; and database developers who understand relationality, replication, transactions, etc. MS appears to be favoring the first group because they outnumber the second group by 2 or 3 orders of magnitude. Now that MS has satisfied the lay folk, here is how it should return the loyalty of Access developers around the world: 1) Next version must be the killer version: single-click web deployment of entire Access database application, including tables, datasheets, queries, reports, forms and even online graphical schema design view with zero feature loss. (Don't ask me how; just do it!) 2) The resulting web app version must run without modification in major browsers on all major platforms and feature automatic smart form sizing/control spacing. 3) Replication and transactions must be supported. 4) In exchange for these features, charge a reasonable premium for this developer's edition. Even deployment royalties would be ok with me. Just let me focus on my application, let me build it once and I'll pass on the costs to the client! MS has the talent and the cash to develop or buy the requisite technology. More important, providing this functionality will honor MS's mission of enabling us to develop great solutions! I CRINGE to think of the great software that goes undeveloped because of the difficulty of getting truly rich apps onto the Internet. I'll bet it actually has a measurable impact on gross national (and even global) productivity, let alone lost lives and other lost opportunities. But if MS can't or won't do this, we will be forced to look at competitors like FileMaker, Alpha 5 ver. 8, etc. (Any other recommendations?) So, Chris and Erik, take these hints to heart... tell us what you can about the future... and give us reason to believe

Richard,

Thanks for your feedback. I can't comment about 14 plans as we are still working through them. We did do something pretty similar for Excel. Here is a blog post with a bunch of resources about how it works. blogs.msdn.com/.../links-to-resources-on-excel-services.aspx Clint

Clint, Thanks for the quick response. I have started looking at the links re: Excel Services and will comment later. Hopefully this service could be upgraded to permit users to add or change data or even modify design via the browser. (Maybe a new cross-platform ActiveX plug-in initiative is needed....) My previous post ignored the third level of interested parties, i.e., the IT department. I understand IT's need to prevent rogue Access apps from trumping IT's control of data, permissions, security, and its ability to comply with regulatory compliance and forensic (i.e., discovery litigation) obligations. In a sense Access has become a victim of its own power and ubiquity, to the point of becoming a corporate pariah. One possible approach would be to enhance Access and its runtime and database files with a "restrictability" feature, which would look for and be subject to the functionality limitations established by policy specified in an Access Services server. The Access Services server could enforce the policy restrictions by preventing prior or unrestricted versions of Access programs, runtimes and databases from installing or connecting anywhere in the enterprise. Hopefully this could be done without having to modify OBDC drivers and native db connectors. Restriction policies could be expressed and communicated via templates (e.g., the "everything but replication" template) which the Access services server could expose to developers, and even Access itself, which in turn could warn against use of, or disable implementation of, functionality prohibited by the template. Different templates could be granularized to apply to different databases, business units, user groups and users. This could integrate with or emulate the ActiveX directory; but the more likely approach for most IT departments would be to implement a single set of restrictions that it deems necessary to "keep Access in its place," once and for all. Internal and external application development contracts and specs could reference these policies when defining the developer's deliverable and support obligations. Standardized templates could simplify contracts and specs. Access apps and databases could be configured by the developer to "shut down" if subjected or exposed to restrictions other than those specified in the development contract, and to report the event and restrictions to the developer and/or IT. The ability to override the app'sshutdown could be reserved to the developer or shared with IT, as specified in the contract. (The former approach would permit developers to protect the integrity of data and reports, the confidentiality of proprietary data and compliance with obligations to third parties such as data providers.) I"m thinking out loud here but there must be some way to balance the needs of spreadsheet users, developers and IT without crippling Access from evolving from LAN-based workgroups to web-based and disconnected mobile workgroups. If implemented elegantly, these features should not degrade design and execution performance, especially in view of the ongoing increases in processor, memory and network speeds. Any performance hit would be worth the benefits of these features. One final thought re: applications that go undeveloped or unmarketed. In his video interview Clint stated that most Access apps are transient workgroup apps that are rarely upsized to SQL Server or other enterprise platforms. But this analysis is incomplete because it ignores the hundreds of thousands of vertical market web-based apps that creative developers would build and deploy with Access, but can't. The whole point of the internet, broadband and WI-FI is that they eliminate the need for expensive physical plants, networks and IT staff. Why shackle the new business models enabled or demanded by this new environment with the legacy concerns of enterprise IT? Giving hundreds of thousands of present, future and potential Access developers around the world the ability to drag and drop rich Access applications onto the web would permit the development of not only new applications and businesses, but also of entirely new lines of business and new jobs. In sum, a fully-realized version of Access would greatly benefit all developers, all users and IT. Corporate Access developers would be able to develop apps that could be controlled by IT. ISVs could fully leverage the new business model of virtual deployment and support. And Microsoft would enjoy increased sales of Access, Windows Vista Server, Access Services server and support, hosting and related services. I know you can't comment about plans in progress, so any response you offer will be appreciated. Now... are you ready for some football??? Richard Kahn

Access from evolving from LAN-based workgroups to web-based and disconnected mobile workgroups....

....the hundreds of thousands of vertical market web-based apps that creative developers would build and deploy with Access....Giving hundreds of thousands of present, future and potential Access developers around the world the ability to drag and drop rich Access applications onto the web would permit the development of not only new applications and businesses, but also of entirely new lines of business and new jobs....And Microsoft would enjoy increased sales of Access.... Wow, that's an ode to Access' renaissance big time and I like the sound of it :-) Are Access Services something you thought up or do they actually exist?

Thanks, I'm glad that there are others out there who share "the Access Renaissance Vision Thing!" Access speaks so fluently to everyone's "inner developer" that it deserves to be upgraded to a full-fledged web development tool. My suggestion to package this web functionality as an Access Services server was made in response to the description of the Excel Services server referenced in Clint's message that was posted right before mine. My preference, though, would be a browser plug-in that would enable Access apps or even VB executables to run, fully featured, in the major browsers on Windows, Mac, Linux, UNIX. Browsers running on Windows could simply pass API and ODBC calls through to the OS. The plug-in for browsers running on other OS's could pass API and ODBC calls through to a runtime Windows emulator or to the native OS. In both cases, developers and their apps would be fully insulated. This would permit simultaneous operation of Win apps in a non-Windows machine, and possibly even interoperability with its native stack. Not very likely, I admit, but worth mentioning for consideration. I don't know if any of these ideas or their functional equivalents are on the drawing board, but I hope they are! How about you... what would you like to see in the killer Access version (in addition to restored replication and user security mentioned in prior posts)? Richard

I don't know if Access assuming the role of something similar to php/MySQL would actually be beneficial should that entail being somewhat disjointed from the Office package(in the same thread referenced below Alan Cossey says, "I ventured into .NET world and came back to Access." ); if that'd be the case then maybe I'd prefer the web development tool feature to be just an additional option. But then again I'm not a developer as you can see in my own description here: blogs.msdn.com/.../how-do-you-use-access.aspx "Access speaks so fluently to everyone's "inner developer""

I think it's the only product that does that because all the others either speak to full-fledged developers or they just remain silent ;-)

We use .NET in my shop, but love Access, too. I am curious to know whether VS Team Foundation Server can be used for source code control with Access 2007. I guess I'll figure that out soon enough. I also would like Access development to be available within the Visual Studio Tools for Office. That functionality would be a boon to those of us with lots of Access apps that we don't have time to rewrite...and why should we? Lots of snooty developers look down their noses at Access, but I know its serious business. I don't like being laughed at, though, even if it is by those who are merely ignorant.