Advice needed: Should we upgrade MS Access 2000? And if so to what?

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    Advice needed: Should we upgrade MS Access 2000? And if so to what?



    Hi

    We need some advice: We are thinking of upgrading our Access database
    from Access 2000 to Access 2004.

    How stable is MS Office 2003? (particularly Access 2003).

    We are just a small company and this is a big decision for us(!) It's
    not just the money it's committing to an new version of Access!

    We have been runnning MS Access 2000 (from MS Office 2000) for the last
    4 years. We are thinking of upgrading to MS Office 2003 (or possibly
    Office 2002 ??).

    Is there much diffence between the three MS Access versions 2000, 2002,
    2003 - and if so what?!

    We now have a huge volume of data (c.80MB +160MB of data) on our
    customer behaviour, customer transactions etc etc on MS Access 2000. We
    use it to do mail shots and all sorts.
    That said we arent very advanced programmers - very much self taught.
    So we probably arent using the more advanced features of Access.

    But we our business is UTTERLY dependant on Access!

    We find Access 2000 somewhat slow and clunky. And it has a habit of
    crashing now and again. Our PCs are all running WindowsXP but are also
    rather old (about 3.5 years old)...

    So it's probably time we upgraded the software be we remain nervous...

    - How hard is it to install the upgrade to MS Office 2003?

    - We have been offered a 10 user license, but it's an OEM upgrad
    version. Is this likely to be a problem.

    - Is 2003 Access better than 2000 in any *significant* ways?
    (e.g. faster? better functionality? more reliable? less bloated?)

    - Or would we be better off just using Access 2002 not 2003?!

    * * * * *

    Finally any top tips on a cheap, honest, reliable place to buy the
    software from?

    All advice gratefully received...


    Ship
    Shiperton Henethe

  • Alex White MCDBA MCSE

    #2
    Re: Advice needed: Should we upgrade MS Access 2000? And if so to what?

    Can I have a copy of Access 2004?, only joking, no such thing. Access 2003
    is the latest version. Well Office 2003 is the most stable version yet of
    the whole office suite. A lot of people say that Access 2002 and Access 2003
    are more stable than Access 2000. The size of the data you are talking about
    is medium size well within was access can cope with, how many users are you
    running?

    Your Access 2000 databases will run unconverted within Access 2003, the
    newer versions of office are much more feature rich than Access 2000. To run
    Office (any version 2000,2002,2003) you should have a minimum 256MB ram on
    your workstations it does make a difference. If it all fails you can install
    Access 2000 with Office 2003 but you will loose out on some of the
    integrated features.

    If you have been offered an OEM licence for Office they are almost certainly
    not legit, as OEM should be provided with NEW hardware, also OEM has no
    upgrade path at all. If you are trying to reduce costs then think about
    this, Buy one full copy of Office 2003 Pro, Buy all the other copies as
    Office 2003 standard, buy the Access Developer Extensions, this allows you
    to run the runtime version of Access on the other computers, you would not
    be able to do any modifications of forms etc from the other computers but
    you would be able to run the database and enter/update/delete records and
    run forms etc.

    Hope it helps.


    --
    Regards

    Alex White MCDBA MCSE
    Managed support when and where you need it, that grows with your business.


    "ship" <shiphen@yahoo. com> wrote in message
    news:1115922642 .355722.290920@ g49g2000cwa.goo glegroups.com.. .[color=blue]
    >
    >
    > Hi
    >
    > We need some advice: We are thinking of upgrading our Access database
    > from Access 2000 to Access 2004.
    >
    > How stable is MS Office 2003? (particularly Access 2003).
    >
    > We are just a small company and this is a big decision for us(!) It's
    > not just the money it's committing to an new version of Access!
    >
    > We have been runnning MS Access 2000 (from MS Office 2000) for the last
    > 4 years. We are thinking of upgrading to MS Office 2003 (or possibly
    > Office 2002 ??).
    >
    > Is there much diffence between the three MS Access versions 2000, 2002,
    > 2003 - and if so what?!
    >
    > We now have a huge volume of data (c.80MB +160MB of data) on our
    > customer behaviour, customer transactions etc etc on MS Access 2000. We
    > use it to do mail shots and all sorts.
    > That said we arent very advanced programmers - very much self taught.
    > So we probably arent using the more advanced features of Access.
    >
    > But we our business is UTTERLY dependant on Access!
    >
    > We find Access 2000 somewhat slow and clunky. And it has a habit of
    > crashing now and again. Our PCs are all running WindowsXP but are also
    > rather old (about 3.5 years old)...
    >
    > So it's probably time we upgraded the software be we remain nervous...
    >
    > - How hard is it to install the upgrade to MS Office 2003?
    >
    > - We have been offered a 10 user license, but it's an OEM upgrad
    > version. Is this likely to be a problem.
    >
    > - Is 2003 Access better than 2000 in any *significant* ways?
    > (e.g. faster? better functionality? more reliable? less bloated?)
    >
    > - Or would we be better off just using Access 2002 not 2003?!
    >
    > * * * * *
    >
    > Finally any top tips on a cheap, honest, reliable place to buy the
    > software from?
    >
    > All advice gratefully received...
    >
    >
    > Ship
    > Shiperton Henethe
    >[/color]


    Comment

    • Ian Davies

      #3
      Re: Advice needed: Should we upgrade MS Access 2000? And if so to what?

      Hello

      In answer to some of your questions
      [color=blue]
      >
      > Is there much diffence between the three MS Access versions 2000, 2002,
      > 2003 - and if so what?![/color]

      From what Ive see the differences are cosmetic. If you are not using all the
      features of Access 2000 you are not likely to use those of the hight
      versions
      [color=blue]
      > We now have a huge volume of data (c.80MB +160MB of data) on our
      > customer behaviour, customer transactions etc etc on MS Access 2000. We
      > use it to do mail shots and all sorts.[/color]

      160mb is not a huge amount of data by todays standards. Infact it is tiny.
      Access 2000 will have no problem with this.
      [color=blue]
      >
      > We find Access 2000 somewhat slow and clunky. And it has a habit of
      > crashing now and again. Our PCs are all running WindowsXP but are also
      > rather old (about 3.5 years old)...[/color]

      I think the clunkiness of your Access Applications may be more to do with
      the the age of your computers. You dont say what processors they have or how
      much memory etc. 3.5 yrs old is getting on a bit in computer time. Also you
      say you are self taught and dont have much programming experience. I'm also
      self taught and Im finding that much of my earlier code is inefficient.
      Perhaps this may be a factor too.

      [color=blue]
      > So it's probably time we upgraded the software be we remain nervous...
      > - How hard is it to install the upgrade to MS Office 2003?[/color]

      It installs very simply over any earlier version replacing all the old
      fiiles with the new ones
      [color=blue]
      > - We have been offered a 10 user license, but it's an OEM upgrad
      > version. Is this likely to be a problem.[/color]

      I personally don't like to use a middle man for software. They tend not to
      be around when you need them. I don't think microsoft are going to disappear
      of the face of the earth soon.
      [color=blue]
      > - Is 2003 Access better than 2000 in any *significant* ways?
      > (e.g. faster? better functionality? more reliable? less bloated?)[/color]

      It may possibly be slower on your computers if Access 2k is. Afterall I dont
      think microsoft simplifies its software as it develops new versions.
      [color=blue]
      > - Or would we be better off just using Access 2002 not 2003?!
      >
      > * * * * *
      >
      > Finally any top tips on a cheap, honest, reliable place to buy the
      > software from?[/color]

      I purchase most of my hardware online but have not done so for software
      although it is significantly cheaper, and would be the best option if buget
      is a major factor. Use an established firm.


      In summary
      Check your hardware spec first. Maybe try your Applications on a borrowed
      more upto date PC/Server to see if it is less clunky and crashes less.
      See if there is anyway you can improve your code
      If Access 2K does what you want it to do stick with it. I don't see the
      point in upgrading unless you intend to use the features of the new version.
      Microsoft's website can tell you what the new features are. I did'nt notice
      anything ground breaking when I recently used it. But then again I didnt
      give it a good run.

      Ian


      [color=blue]
      > All advice gratefully received...
      >
      >
      > Ship
      > Shiperton Henethe
      >[/color]


      Comment

      • Chuck Grimsby

        #4
        Re: Advice needed: Should we upgrade MS Access 2000? And if so to what?

        If you haven't already, read Alex's message. It's dead on target!

        Only one (sniggly) point. Access 97 was (is) the most stable version.

        Upgrading to Access 2003 will reduce how often you databases crash,
        depending upon your _network_. It's usually the network more then
        anything else that causes Access to crash. Assuming you're running
        your databases over a network, that is! (D'oh!)

        The upgrade is a snore for any network administrator, and only slightly
        more exciting for a user. (Mostly due to excitment or fear then
        anything else.) Once the upgrade is in place however, even the most
        scared user wonders why they felt that way. (Cudos to the Access
        Development Team for that!!!!!)

        Comment

        • Larry  Linson

          #5
          Re: Advice needed: Should we upgrade MS Access 2000? And if so to what?

          "ship" <shiphen@yahoo. com> wrote
          [color=blue]
          > We need some advice: We are thinking
          > of upgrading our Access database
          > from Access 2000 to Access 2004.[/color]

          You've had some good advice on whether or not to upgrade.

          Access 2000, provided you have applied _all_ released Service Packs (3, if I
          recall correctly) and other patches, has reached a state of reasonably good
          stability.

          I would NOT _suggest_ distributing your applications with the runtime
          support -- there are enough unobvious restrictions (a common statement is,
          "Whoever would have thought _that_ was a design view feature?") and, of
          course, your users would not have Access to use for their own purposes. It
          can be done successfully, but IMNSHO, should only be done by experienced and
          skilled developers -- if the users don't have any other use for Access.

          If your users have full Access now, you'd be well advised to search out the
          ..MDB and .MDE files, just for the record. Remote searches in many companies
          turned up a very surprising number of Access databases created by individual
          users, some temporary and transitory, but others with data that needed to be
          captured as a corporate asset.

          There were a few real changes between Access 2000 and 2002 (obviously
          nothing you couldn't live without) but very, very little change between
          Access 2002 and Access 2003. Still, the changes in both cases were so minor
          that, by default, they create databases in Access 2000 file format, so that
          any new features just don't work. It's an easy option to change them to
          2002/2003 file format if you don't have any users still using the older
          version.

          One other consideration: Access 2000 is now "out of support" at Microsoft,
          so tech support is not required to answer questions about it. In practice,
          this is not quite as drastic a problem as it may sound -- to determine how
          it will affect you, consider how many times you have had to make support
          calls to Microsoft about Access 2000 in the last <whatever period you decide
          is pertinent>.

          The current version of Access, and thus the one that will continue to be
          supported for the longest time, is Access 2003. Its Help assumes primary
          Help is online, so you will want your users to have (preferrably high-speed)
          Internet access when using it; Access 2002's Help assumes local help
          information is primary. Otherwise, there is almost no difference.

          Because it is not current, you may be able to get a better deal on Office XP
          Pro if you search various sources, including the online auction sites -- if
          you are willing to "trade" a shorter official support period for a better
          price.

          Larry Linson
          Microsoft Access MVP


          Comment

          • David W. Fenton

            #6
            Re: Advice needed: Should we upgrade MS Access 2000? And if so to what?

            "ship" <shiphen@yahoo. com> wrote in
            news:1115922642 .355722.290920@ g49g2000cwa.goo glegroups.com:
            [color=blue]
            > We have been runnning MS Access 2000 (from MS Office 2000) for the
            > last 4 years. We are thinking of upgrading to MS Office 2003 (or
            > possibly Office 2002 ??).[/color]

            What benefit are you expecting to get from updating your version of
            Office?

            I have plenty of clients running Office97.

            I have other clients running Office 2K, 2K2 and 2K3, but using
            Access97 with the other Office apps.

            I also have clients using A2K and A2K3 (nobody using A2K2, though).

            I don't really see much of a difference from an end user's point of
            view.

            And I haven't programmed in A2K3, so I don't know about the
            programmer's point of view directly, but have heard that it's
            better.

            I would consider upgrading Access and leaving the rest of the Office
            suite alone, unless there are features in the new versions of the
            other apps that are important. Personally, I've seen very little in
            the recent versions of Word or Excel that would justify spending 10
            cents upgrading.

            If you use Outlook (and you shouldn't), then the new version of that
            is improved in terms of security.

            But since Office97, there just hasn't been any innovation in the
            Office suite as a whole that would justify the upgrade.

            On the other hand, if you're getting it preloaded on new PCs, then,
            by all means, get the latest version of Office. It's so unchanged
            that I've got clients who switch back and forth among Office 97,
            Office 2K and 2K3 without blinking an eyelash.

            --
            David W. Fenton http://www.bway.net/~dfenton
            dfenton at bway dot net http://www.bway.net/~dfassoc

            Comment

            • Alex White MCDBA MCSE

              #7
              Re: Advice needed: Should we upgrade MS Access 2000? And if so to what?

              A little more to add,

              In nearly all the upgrades that I have done from Access 97 to 2000 (+) have
              been sold on Access 97 being unstable e.g. databases crashing etc, the
              interesting thing that keeps on coming out of these upgrades is there is
              some form of data corruption, of course upgrading did not solve this problem
              and the data had to be cleaned, so there is an argument that the upgrade did
              not make things anymore stable. When I am asked to advise on what version, I
              will always go for 2000 unless there is a compelling reason for going with
              either of the other two versions, why would I choose 2000, well it's simple
              I have had the pain with 2000, I understand all the bugs (all software has
              bugs) that affect me, I know exactly how to structure and 100+ form project
              running on 100+ desktops so why change is my view.

              I think before upgrading look at your hardware of your PC's, memory is the
              number 1 issue, processor number 2. The clunky feel to your database could
              be how it is structured, in a multi-user environment, split the database
              front-end/back end (I don't know if you already have).

              You have no choice but to purchase Office 2003 (Legitimately), but MS has a
              downgrade rule, allowing you to run a previous version, (how many versions
              back I don't know). I will reinforce my point about OEM, don't buy it you
              are not entitled to it (unless you upgrade your machines at the same time,
              you need to check with MS on the OEM rules), it is as legitimate as stealing
              a copy off the internet.

              On the point of how easy is the upgrade, well I never upgrade, I like to
              completely get rid of the previous versions first, there is a tool for doing
              that job on the MS Office website. I never install off CDROM, copy the CDROM
              to a share on the server and install from there a lot less trouble, the
              workstation never has the horible message "Now insert your Office CD in the
              drive".


              --
              Regards

              Alex White MCDBA MCSE
              Managed support when and where you need it, that grows with your business.


              "ship" <shiphen@yahoo. com> wrote in message
              news:1115922642 .355722.290920@ g49g2000cwa.goo glegroups.com.. .[color=blue]
              >
              >
              > Hi
              >
              > We need some advice: We are thinking of upgrading our Access database
              > from Access 2000 to Access 2004.
              >
              > How stable is MS Office 2003? (particularly Access 2003).
              >
              > We are just a small company and this is a big decision for us(!) It's
              > not just the money it's committing to an new version of Access!
              >
              > We have been runnning MS Access 2000 (from MS Office 2000) for the last
              > 4 years. We are thinking of upgrading to MS Office 2003 (or possibly
              > Office 2002 ??).
              >
              > Is there much diffence between the three MS Access versions 2000, 2002,
              > 2003 - and if so what?!
              >
              > We now have a huge volume of data (c.80MB +160MB of data) on our
              > customer behaviour, customer transactions etc etc on MS Access 2000. We
              > use it to do mail shots and all sorts.
              > That said we arent very advanced programmers - very much self taught.
              > So we probably arent using the more advanced features of Access.
              >
              > But we our business is UTTERLY dependant on Access!
              >
              > We find Access 2000 somewhat slow and clunky. And it has a habit of
              > crashing now and again. Our PCs are all running WindowsXP but are also
              > rather old (about 3.5 years old)...
              >
              > So it's probably time we upgraded the software be we remain nervous...
              >
              > - How hard is it to install the upgrade to MS Office 2003?
              >
              > - We have been offered a 10 user license, but it's an OEM upgrad
              > version. Is this likely to be a problem.
              >
              > - Is 2003 Access better than 2000 in any *significant* ways?
              > (e.g. faster? better functionality? more reliable? less bloated?)
              >
              > - Or would we be better off just using Access 2002 not 2003?!
              >
              > * * * * *
              >
              > Finally any top tips on a cheap, honest, reliable place to buy the
              > software from?
              >
              > All advice gratefully received...
              >
              >
              > Ship
              > Shiperton Henethe
              >[/color]


              Comment

              • David W. Fenton

                #8
                Re: Advice needed: Should we upgrade MS Access 2000? And if so to what?

                "Alex White MCDBA MCSE" <alex@intralan. co.uk> wrote in
                news:#Rdcqq4VFH A.2616@TK2MSFTN GP14.phx.gbl:
                [color=blue]
                > In nearly all the upgrades that I have done from Access 97 to 2000
                > (+) have been sold on Access 97 being unstable e.g. databases
                > crashing etc, the interesting thing that keeps on coming out of
                > these upgrades is there is some form of data corruption, of course
                > upgrading did not solve this problem and the data had to be
                > cleaned, so there is an argument that the upgrade did not make
                > things anymore stable.[/color]

                Who is advising an upgrade from Access97 to Access2K to increase
                stability? Only someone who is incompetent and has never really used
                both versions to any extent would be fool enough to think that A2K
                was *more* stable than A97.

                The other point: if the upgrade is in response to instability
                issues, anything that's causing instability in A97 is going to cause
                instability in A2K (or any later version of Access), and it will
                probably be worse.

                There are perfectly valid reasons for upgrading.

                Stability is not one of them, ever.

                --
                David W. Fenton http://www.bway.net/~dfenton
                dfenton at bway dot net http://www.bway.net/~dfassoc

                Comment

                • Alex White MCDBA MCSE

                  #9
                  Re: Advice needed: Should we upgrade MS Access 2000? And if so to what?

                  Hi David,

                  I totally agree, that is the point I was trying to make, out there in the
                  field amongst the user base there is the perception that the latest version
                  is going to be faster/more reliable I know that is not true, in my personal
                  view what made Access 2000 a 'better' (for want of a better word) was
                  suddenly the integration into SQL seemed much deeper. I inherit most of my
                  work from other programmers who seem to have run out of steam, their excuse
                  for their inability to deliver a working system was to blame the version of
                  Access. The most important thing to a good running Access database power of
                  the computers that it runs on, and that they are reliable. The point I was
                  trying to make is proven by my never advising on Access 2002 or 2003 unless
                  there is a compelling reason. We all have those jobs where they are
                  compacting a repair a bit too often, e.g. one a day, last year I had one
                  such client 1.4GB data, 15 concurrent users, running Access 2000, all I did
                  in that situation (as they were an SBS client, fully entitled to SQL) was
                  upsize the back-end to SQL, no one has had to get involved in that system
                  since. Having used every version of Access my favourites being v2,v97,v2000
                  it is horses for courses.

                  So in complete agreement with you,

                  --
                  Regards

                  Alex White MCDBA MCSE
                  Managed support when and where you need it, that grows with your business.


                  "David W. Fenton" <dXXXfenton@bwa y.net.invalid> wrote in message
                  news:Xns9655B0D 3A23B9dfentonbw aynetinvali@24. 168.128.86...[color=blue]
                  > "Alex White MCDBA MCSE" <alex@intralan. co.uk> wrote in
                  > news:#Rdcqq4VFH A.2616@TK2MSFTN GP14.phx.gbl:
                  >[color=green]
                  >> In nearly all the upgrades that I have done from Access 97 to 2000
                  >> (+) have been sold on Access 97 being unstable e.g. databases
                  >> crashing etc, the interesting thing that keeps on coming out of
                  >> these upgrades is there is some form of data corruption, of course
                  >> upgrading did not solve this problem and the data had to be
                  >> cleaned, so there is an argument that the upgrade did not make
                  >> things anymore stable.[/color]
                  >
                  > Who is advising an upgrade from Access97 to Access2K to increase
                  > stability? Only someone who is incompetent and has never really used
                  > both versions to any extent would be fool enough to think that A2K
                  > was *more* stable than A97.
                  >
                  > The other point: if the upgrade is in response to instability
                  > issues, anything that's causing instability in A97 is going to cause
                  > instability in A2K (or any later version of Access), and it will
                  > probably be worse.
                  >
                  > There are perfectly valid reasons for upgrading.
                  >
                  > Stability is not one of them, ever.
                  >
                  > --
                  > David W. Fenton http://www.bway.net/~dfenton
                  > dfenton at bway dot net http://www.bway.net/~dfassoc[/color]


                  Comment

                  • Larry  Linson

                    #10
                    Re: Advice needed: Should we upgrade MS Access 2000? And if so to what?

                    "Alex White MCDBA MCSE" <alex@intralan. co.uk> wrote
                    [color=blue]
                    > Having used every version of Access
                    > my favourites being v2,v97,v2000
                    > it is horses for courses.[/color]

                    Access 2000? It is tolerably stable if all three SPs and subsequent updates
                    have been applied; but for a long period, it was in a close race with Access
                    95 for "worst release ever". (A95 _might_ have been OK if they'd put out 3
                    Service Packs.)

                    It is hard for me to imagine it being in anyone's "favorites" list.

                    Larry Linson
                    Microsoft Access MVP




                    Comment

                    • Larry  Linson

                      #11
                      Re: Advice needed: Should we upgrade MS Access 2000? And if so to what?

                      "Alex White MCDBA MCSE" wrote
                      [color=blue]
                      > Having used every version of Access my
                      > favourites being v2,v97,v2000
                      > it is horses for courses.[/color]

                      See my comments re: v2000 in comp.databases. ms-access in this thread. My
                      posting host for USENET doesn't carry all the microsoft.publi c.newsgroups.


                      Comment

                      • Alex White MCDBA MCSE

                        #12
                        Re: Advice needed: Should we upgrade MS Access 2000? And if so to what?

                        Hi Larry,

                        Read your comments, it is interesting the different views we all have,

                        The funny thing for me is this, I wrote an Access 2000 ADP project in 1999
                        and with permission from MS I was allowed to deploy this application before
                        the release of Office 2000, this application has run faultlessly since
                        deployment and none of the service packs were applied in response to
                        specific problems, more out of the client insisting that they have the
                        latest SP's something that I have no control over. I would go as far as to
                        say that in the 13 years I have been developing Access applications it could
                        be said that, the specific application has had more man hours of users
                        beating it in every direction given it is run by 150+ users 6 days a week
                        and the whole business relies up on it and I don't ever get phone calls to
                        support it, ok the data is stored in SQL7 and that does make a difference in
                        high volume/large amounts of concurrent users.

                        I am interested in what makes Access 2000 not a good product, I do agree
                        with Access 95 I had all sorts of problems with that.

                        --
                        Regards

                        Alex White MCDBA MCSE
                        Managed support when and where you need it, that grows with your business.


                        "Larry Linson" <bouncer@localh ost.not> wrote in message
                        news:%23A0s1BLW FHA.3280@TK2MSF TNGP09.phx.gbl. ..[color=blue]
                        > "Alex White MCDBA MCSE" wrote
                        >[color=green]
                        > > Having used every version of Access my
                        > > favourites being v2,v97,v2000
                        > > it is horses for courses.[/color]
                        >
                        > See my comments re: v2000 in comp.databases. ms-access in this thread. My
                        > posting host for USENET doesn't carry all the microsoft.publi c.newsgroups.
                        >
                        >[/color]


                        Comment

                        • (PeteCresswell)

                          #13
                          Re: Advice needed: Should we upgrade MS Access 2000? And if so to what?

                          Per Alex White MCDBA MCSE:[color=blue]
                          >ok the data is stored in SQL7 and that does make a difference in
                          >high volume/large amounts of concurrent users.[/color]

                          I'd also say that it makes it immune to backend DB corruptions - which I've seen
                          be a major problem if/when something in the LAN environment is not right.
                          --
                          PeteCresswell

                          Comment

                          • David W. Fenton

                            #14
                            Re: Advice needed: Should we upgrade MS Access 2000? And if so to what?

                            "Alex White MCDBA MCSE" <alex@intralan. co.uk> wrote in
                            news:#g24AVLWFH A.3572@TK2MSFTN GP12.phx.gbl:
                            [color=blue]
                            > I am interested in what makes Access 2000 not a good product, I do
                            > agree with Access 95 I had all sorts of problems with that.[/color]

                            I don't do ADPs, nor do I ever intend to, so I don't know anything
                            about them beyond what I've read.

                            But with MDBs and Jet data sources, A2K is completely unusable in
                            any release before SR1 (Larry says Office SP3, but I've found that's
                            not necessary, nor desirable for sites using Outlook who want to
                            avoid the Draconian Outlook "security" "fix"), and with any version
                            of Jet 4 before SP6. The latter is now less of an Access-specific
                            issue, since Jet 4 is now shipped with the OS (since Win2K), as it
                            is used for storing the Active Directory database. If you've
                            service-packed your OS, you've already probably gotten a decent
                            version of Jet 4.

                            The problems with pre-SR1 Access and Jet 4.0 before SP6 are severe
                            enough that I log the versions of MSACCESS.EXE and MSJET40.DLL for
                            each user logon to any of may applications where I don't have full
                            control over the configuration of the desktops. That way I can
                            inform the sysadmins when a machine has reverted to a bad version of
                            Access 2K.

                            The problems with Jet 4.0 before SP6 were quite severe, real
                            show-stoppers.

                            --
                            David W. Fenton http://www.bway.net/~dfenton
                            dfenton at bway dot net http://www.bway.net/~dfassoc

                            Comment

                            • Alex White MCDBA MCSE

                              #15
                              Re: Advice needed: Should we upgrade MS Access 2000? And if so to what?

                              Hi David and Peter,

                              I'm glad I asked the question now, because in both instances I don't have
                              the problems that both of you have experienced, for one I believe that
                              Outlook is one of the worst programs that MS ever wrote, and I never have
                              anything to do with it in a programming sense I fully understand the issues
                              with SP3 in office as I support more than 4000+ desktops with varying
                              applications, got loads of workarounds. I have completely written my own
                              emailing functions that I have been using for years now due to my complete
                              lack of respect for Outlook for anything other than a simple email
                              front-end. The Jet engine is great and I have many programs out there in the
                              field that just run and run, where I feel it lacks is in high volume
                              data/users and in those situations it's a SQL back-end every time, but I
                              have been doing that with every version of Access, it's just with 2000 (or
                              better) SQL was better integrated. As I said in an earlier post it is
                              interesting the different views/experiences we all have personally I am not
                              happy with either of the newer versions of Access beyond 2000 and I struggle
                              to find compelling reasons to upgrade to either from Access 2000. I have a
                              working solution that does it for me every time, Windows2000
                              Server/Windows2003 Server WinXP SP2 clients, Office 2000 With SP3, Latest
                              MDAC's latest Critical Updates, and on bigger installations SQL 2000, I put
                              these jobs in a don't here about any problems with my work, if anything I
                              phone them every 5-6 months asking if it is all going well.

                              With respect our views differ, but that what these newsgroups are about, if
                              we all thought the same, then just one person could answer all the
                              questions.

                              --
                              Regards

                              Alex White MCDBA MCSE
                              Managed support when and where you need it, that grows with your business.


                              "(PeteCresswell )" <x@y.z.invali d> wrote in message
                              news:ffad819i4o qkr2jorvti0nvk9 7can9q31m@4ax.c om...[color=blue]
                              > Per Alex White MCDBA MCSE:[color=green]
                              >>ok the data is stored in SQL7 and that does make a difference in
                              >>high volume/large amounts of concurrent users.[/color]
                              >
                              > I'd also say that it makes it immune to backend DB corruptions - which
                              > I've seen
                              > be a major problem if/when something in the LAN environment is not right.
                              > --
                              > PeteCresswell[/color]


                              Comment

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