Company meeting, and on to M2...

I look forward to hearing about it. I really would like to implement the current Access runtime 2007 version for some important clients but need the reports working in an adp. On the 23rd of August you said that "we're working on getting that fix for Reports in ADPs out now. It is done..." Is there some date I can tell them it will be ready?

Hi Zac, you're slowing down? Then maybe Clint can make up for it by resuming his blog ;-)

Any chance we see the localized Access 2007 runtimes soon? It seemed the localized versions of Office 2007 including Access 2007 were available almost immediately so I wonder a bit.

Hi Zac: Could Microsoft increase the maximum size of Access database from 2GB to 20GB? I can not attach a lot of pictures and PDF of research projects before the file reaches the maximum size. FileMaker database can be 80GB. SQL Server does not have a good UI like Access. So I would prefer to use Access to store our research project data and pictures.

William: We're working on a delivery vehicle for this fix. Would you be willing to have us contact you directly? If so, please send me an email. Grovelli: Nice idea... but he'll be busy for the same reasons I am :) Stefan: It looks like the localized versions of the runtime aren't going to be ready for a few months. FWIW, as long as you're building all your own UI and handling errors in your own code, you can build a pretty good localized version of your app on the English runtime. The runtime doesn't have very much UI. Is this something you've already considered? Tim: Great feedback, thanks! Your best bet for now is to build your app using Access 2007 against SharePoint. Doing this will get you around the file size limit because the data is stored on the SharePoint server. You can use either attachments on list items or document libraries. Note that although Access 2007 does have offline SharePoint support, it does not make documents available offline (only the record data).

Zac, The point Tim makes, I will 2nd it. I won't even use the features of of putting attachments in the database. I think it was a total waste for Microsoft to even implement such a feature when you have a 2gb database limit. Telling someone to put it on a sharepoint server is not a resolution. Sharepoint server has major speed issues when using linked tables.

Zac,

I really hope you guys will look at how ADP performance has degraded so significantly in Access 2007. I don't know why, but since adopting 2007 our ADP-based applications are real DOGS... the performance is so bad that we are going back to Access 2003 - a real shame.

Great feedback David, can you tell me what you want to store using attachments that is larger than 2GB total? I'm just curious about your scenario. On the SharePoint perf front, we're making some investments here in 14. I've tried out the stuff we're building, and I've got to tell you I was impressed... it is going to be -a lot- faster. The only down side is that these improvements aren't something we'll be able to make available to 2007 customers in an SP. Chris, have you also recently made a move to Windows Vista, or do you see these ADP perf degredations on WinXP/2003? I know we've been doing some investigation here and I we've made some perf fixes here that will be in 2007 SP1.

Zac, We have a product database whereby my customer want to see images of the product at order entry time. On average there are over 5000 products due to the industry that my software is designed for, everything is a component. There may only be 500 end products, however there can be 5000 products that are combined to make a single product. 5000 small jpgs will eat up prob at least 50% of the 2gb, if not more. I have not done any actual benchmarks to proove this, however an average jpg of 200kb * 5000 = 1gb roughly The attachment field would have been great for this purpose. to get around things, I will have to create a 2nd or 3rd database and start distributing the data amongst different databaes files. which is not a bad idea anyway, however it still creates more of a mess On another note. The ADP Performance is not the only problem. There are significant performance issues in other areas. I can show you where you can download our 2002 access version and compare it to the 2007 access version. you will notice a significant performance degradation, and Im not talking about miliseconds, Im talking Watch the second hand on your clock and you can see significant changes I will be posting a 2nd post that I tried to post last night but has not shown up in the blogs that has more info on this performance issue.

I just thought I would share with the acces community what access 2007 is doing to our business. A Little history first.... Our system was developed originally using access 200, later upgrading to access 2002. We did not upgrade to 2003 and went from 2002 to 2007. SAME CODE (well, ok 2007 introduced alot of bugs and problems and we had to fix those bugs and problems, code that used to work in 2002 stopped working) After months of correcting problems that occurred as a result of upgrade, we finally released our 2007 version of our business management system we call BizWizard which his running close to 100 businesses with multiple site locations and an averger per business usage of 10 users simultaneous. No problems our 2002 release Now Im getting CONSISTENT reports from customers on reports not printing. We have seen bandwith usage on local networks climb from 65% usage to maxing out at 100% all from upgrading to the 2007 system which is basically the same system as the 2002. The types of changes we had to implement were things like me.insideheights = xxxxx

me.insidewidght = xxxxx because all of our forms were all of a sudden 1/2" high by 1/4" wide the largest complaint is around the reports. NOT A SINGLE LINE OF CODE or anythign was changed about any of the reports. One customer tells us that a report took 5 minutes to print, when it used to takes 3 seconds Another customers reported waiting 30 minutes for a print to spool when it used to take 3 seconds Here is the latest from yet another customer who is now irate and as he puts it "has little faith in our product anymore" ==============================

I can only assume that you are being swamped by other customers with similar problems to ours. If I sound a little miffed it is because I am. At this point our confidence in your product is pretty low and we are just as frustrated as you are. I have installed a 10/100 mbs switch in my system to replace my hub, but without much effect. We can limp along as long as we do not have the bizwizard system running on more than two machines at once, and they have to be the most powerful. Printing customer invoices is still pretty difficult but working if we are patient. but our patience is running a little thin. Maybe I will hear from you tomorrow. Against my better judgement we are continuing to enter new orders into the system but still cannot mark any of our invoice customers closed after they have picked up their orders and had an invoice printed. Up to my ears.... ================================== I have been extremly patient which bouts of frustration with the access team. We do not use ADP, so I don't see how the ADP issue effects us. You didn't disclose to us what you DID to access 2007. I personally notice speed issues and my development machine is Win 64-bit - 8gb ram 1x2 TB Raid 1 drives with Quad Core Processing and yet I noticed speed issue. One particular screen that took previously about 2 seconds to load on my machien now takes 8 seconds On my clients computers which are near as powered as mine, that screen took 4 seconds to load and now takes 30 seconds Printing that was 3 seconds is now 30 seconds to 30 minutes - I have been logged in via remote support on these clients computers and have seen these reports site for 20 minutes, and then same report the next time taking 10 seconds I need a resolution from the Access team on these problems. My faith in Access is dwindling Extremly fast.

Hi Zac,

Some of our machines are Vista, some XP and some 2003 - all are suffering from poor performance with ADPs in Access 2007. It appears that the performance issues are across the board. We've just started reinstalling Access 2003 and the performance gain on the machines (Windows Server 2003) we have done so far seems to be 10x, at least on long-running operations: much, much faster under Acc2003. One reasonably complicated procedure (lots of VBA and ADO queries) takes about 5 secs in Acc2003 and up to 60 secs on Acc2007 - same machine, same params etc.

A lot of our users are using the ADP apps in a call center for sales/quote purposes, so the performance is crucial... We'll have to wait to SP1 to try Acc2007 again.

I hope this gets resolved... ADPs have become a big part of our life. The core of our business runs on them and they're GREAT! :) I also sincerely hope that they don't drop of the Access features list... they are still a fantastic way of putting together database apps - still much, much faster than VS tools. Faster to develop and easy to maintain, despite the odd wart/anomaly here and there.

Thanks for your response Zac. Gives me a warm and fuzzy :)

I'm baffled at the decision to make ADPs an afterthought in Access 2007. I've use the rest of Office 2007 but will continue use Access 2003 instead of 2007 indefinitely. Our whole business relies on ADPs! I did not understand why they seemed to be almost a hidden feature in Access 2007 (and the documentation's explanation for that is beyond lame). This revalation that there is a fix for the runtime reporting issue (finally) but Microsoft is dragging its feet on how/when to release it shows me they don't comprehend the needs of some of the most hardcore Access users - the ones who have used the product for 10+ years and champion its purchase. A big reason why we went to SQL Server and purchased SQL Server licenses over the years was because of ADP's. By casting this technology aside, you are losing an opportunity to gain more market share and money with SQL Server.

Alec,

I agree with you. The reality is that ADPs haven't really had much attention from MS for the last few releases of Access. ADPs aren't integrated as well (read: they're not really at all integrated) with SQLServer 2005 as they were with SQLServer 2000 and the current lack of new development seems to suggest that MS wishes they'd go away. I agree that it is a real shame... There still isn't a product out there that touches its simplicity, usability and functionality - but MS is headed into deeper waters with SQLServer, where the really big fish are and thus aren't so concerned about offering small-biz tools for development with SQLServer. The MS front-end options for small businesses who want SQLServer and all it offers are, um, not particularly inviting: VB/C#/C.NET. Expensive sledgehammers.

Now if we could get all those small/mid-sized business to stop buying MySQL, we might get somewhere on this point. Chicken, egg?

Did I say "buying MySQL"? You know what I meant.... :)

Access MDB/ACCDB is a *fantastic* front-end to SQL Server, once you master DSN-less linked tables and pass-through queries. I looked at the ADP option a few years ago and found it ghastly. When ADP is dead and gone, what features will you miss the most?