Re: New Computwer with "Office with Access"

On Wed, 26 Nov 2008 06:34:18 GMT, TAldrich@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx't aclue
wrote:


On 25-Nov-2008, WaIIy <WaIIy@(nft).invalid> wrote:

If you just want the basics, I agree with Mark.
Home and Htudent has the main MS Office programs.

I've been using "Home/Student" the last couple years, I got spreadsheets
galore and they need to be combined more centralized. Thats why I've looking
to upgrade to an Office version that has Access, and I'm not making the leap
relying on my eight year old computer.

You might try here:
<http://databases.about.com/od/administration/tp/topdesktopdbs.htm>

I have used Alpha 4 in the windows 3.1 world, Foxpro, Filemaker in
the MAC world, Paradox, and Open Office's Base. I prefer Access,
really.

My disclaimer: I am not a big Microsoft fan, but I find using Access
more productive for me than some of the others.

My company uses office Pro, so it is familiar; certainly a part of
the reason. Most of all, it is closely tied with the other Office
applications, so that works as well.

Alpha 4 I found interesting at the time, but dumped it for Access
when it came out. I still have the copy under a desk in my office.
Anyone want it? Free! I hate to throw it away, but I'll never use
it. Alpha 5, I have not seen.

I did a project with Foxpro, and a project with Paradox some years
ago. Access is enough for most users, I believe.

Filemaker was a pretty good database from a user standpoint. When
all of our secretaries had a Mac on their desk, it was a good product
that they could use easily. At the time it was pretty much a flatfile
database. Great for organizing things like Christmas card lists, and
other pretty routine tasks. Reporting was easy too, and one of it's
strongest points.

I have worked a very little with Base, the Open Office dbm. I
realize it is familiarity, but I find it more difficult to use than
access. Perhaps more familiarity with it would help.

What I like about Access is that in it's desktop arrangement, you
can manage a huge amount of data.

I once did a telephone management system in Access that used
imported telephone switch data, imported Long distance data, and
produced monthly billing reports for the site's departments. That was
for about 900 phones. The system also managed a telephone book that
reported telephone numbers by name, by department, by building, by
conference room, and by fax number. This data was all available
on-line.

I have done a bazillion (Exaggeration for certain) small databases
to manage small things, like documents or time accounting. It is
fully functional, scriptable, SQL enabled, and wizard enabled for the
beginner.

For me, the report part of access is the worst. I am constantly
limited by things that the wizard does no do, but one can overcome
those limitations in the design view, at some cost in time. Most of
those things have to do with groupings and sorting levels.

Microsoft had a developers version of SQL server one could download,
but all I could find today was a compact version. That is for things
like PDAs, and such.

If you really want to go out of town, you can get a Linux database,
MySQL, which is a big-time product, but you'd have to use Linux.

Anyway, it is just one opinion.
--

Cheers! :)
.

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