"Lyle Fairfield" <ly***********@aim.com> wrote in message
news:Xn*********************************@216.221.8 1.119...
It's confusing. Many people here and elsewhere make many different
predictions:
The only thing we can do here is look at the past, and how things work.
First, MS as a company is not stupid. They became successful because they
build things that users want. Users shell billions every year to purchase
software, and they purchase incredible amounts of it. They don't do this
because they are dumb, or ignorant, they do this because it is such a good
deal. a windows OEM copy is about $50-$60, and over 5 years that
is not even 12 bucks a year, and you get a LOT of updates for that
cheap amount. What a deal....
One of the GREAT secrets of Microsoft's success is that of compatibility
over time.
Apple computer has forced their whole user community
MORE THAN ONCE to throw out ALL of their software. None of the original
apple mac programs from the 1980's worked with the new MAC that came out in
the early 90's. I sure your prof remembers the first Mac Paint programs!
However, you can't run those old programs. All those users were left high
and dry!
Apple did this again recently with the new OS X, and again
forced out tons and tons of software.
I want to stress here is not just a issue of no new upgrades, but those
new apple OS actually DOES NOT RUN the old software. This is big
deal, and difference.
With windows, we can still run old software from the 1980's. MS has never
forced a upgrade here by design. I have clients in town running old DOS
FoxPro code from the 1980's on brand new win XP pc's. Ms-access is
celebrating its what...11th anniversary right now (or is it now 12?).
Fact is,
you can still run and use the ORIGINAL ms-access version 1.0 (that
is from windows 3.1, 16 bit environment) on brand new 32 bit pc windows
box today. (MS had to do a LOT OF work to make old windows 3.1 code still
function. Just dealing with 16 bit libraries vs 32 bit was a huge
challenge).
Fact is that MS had the money to spend on compatibility and
they did, where companies like Apple is make you fork out the money for
new versions. As a result, with MS your software investment has been
protected better then anyone else in the last 20 years.
There is not one company, I repeat NOT ONE company that comes close to the
track record of MS. In fact, one the reasons why MS is so successful is
because IBM, Apple, Atari etc, and even SUN can not even come close the
compatibility that windows has maintained over the years. MS likes you
as a customer, and thus having compatibility keeps you!
If you want to develop with very OLD
version of VB5, you still can.
Fact is, from a compatibility point of view, there is not a vendor in the
industry that even comes remotely close to the continues compatibility
Microsoft has offered over the last 20 years.
You can actually go a web site and download the Original version of
visi calc and run it on your pc today (that download is less then 32k
which is smaller then a web page with graphics!). Imagine that, a
whole spread sheet that fits easily in 32k of ram!
So, even if ms-access (or JET) was being dropped, you likely could use it
for
the next 20 years!
Since MS is so eager to win market share, and win customers, then why
on earth would they dump the most popular database program in the
world? You mean they want to chase customers away back to Linux and
apple after all this work to win those customers? really, do you
think the company is that stupid?
A really good example of how MS listens to the market place is that
of DAO. We were told by many people for years that we should not
use DAO anymore. Well, guess what, we continued to use it, and
the fact is that the NEW VERSION of ms-access (that is access
2003 right now) actually has the DAO REFERENCE BY
DEFAULT. In fact, you have to go all the way back to access
97 to find a version that has the DAO reference by default.
So, was MS dropping the DAO ref from ms-access a bad move?
Sure, it was. However, during this time period, we STILL COULD
continue to use DAO...you just had to set the ref yourself, or
if you converted using ms-access, it put the ref there for you.
My point here is that most of us missed the DAO ref, and it
was a source of problems. The result is that MS listened to us,
and now back by popular demand, the current new version
of access 2003 has a DAO ref by default.
Gee, I can still run 1981 software on a brand new box, and now the latest
version of ms-access has a DAO ref by default?
Do you start to get a picture of how important compatibility is here?
Microsoft is success because they do things like put back the DAO references
by default in a2003. That to me shows an AMAZING flexibility, and also shows
that the best way to win customers is to allow them to continue to use their
software.
Without question, this ability of windows to run software is what makes
Microsoft so popular...so why would they destroy it?
And, I should say that windows XP also ships with a copy of JET.
(this is why a good many VB.net developers still use JET...it is
part of windows XP).
I have little doubt we will see new versions of ms-access for the next
20 years. There is no rumor, or article or even a statement that
even HINT of
the demise, or stopping of the fantastic product we all know and love
as ms-access.
Right now, it has been announced that the office team now owns, and holds
the JET database, and they can modify it.
They are calling the new engine "ACE".
So, in conclusion:
There is no way we are going to have to throw out old software
There is no way that the JET engine is going to die, especially now that the
office team has the code, and is already adding new features.
Likely, we ms-access people will get a cool 64 bit version of JET, but I
don't see any reason why the old ones will not work....
So, over the years, as new technology comes out, we in ms-access get that
technology. When ADO came out, ms-access got it. If you look at newsgroup
posts today, a LOT of people use ADO because that is what most VB folks use.
And, I think this is great that we got ADO. When XML came out, we got xml
features added to ms-access. And, lets not forget the soap tool kit add-in
that lets ms-access consume web services (it is a VERY cool add in).
And, we even got a nice add in for ms-access to allow source code control
(VSS).
So, as new cool technologies come out, ms-access gets them, but the old
features for the most part continue to work, and the future looks bright....
--
Albert D. Kallal (Access MVP)
Edmonton, Alberta Canada
pl*****************@msn.com http://www.members.shaw.ca/AlbertKallal