Zim & De:
"Their 'Sequel Server' database stuff is incredibly powerful. And the fact that Access can be used as a front end into it only adds to the power and sophistication."
This was actually my main instigation for getting interested in learning Access: REPORT WRITER FOR MS-SQL SERVER. I have a huge application written in C# and MS-SQL which collects a lot of vital information We have a number of reports which are written in C#, MS-SQL and a dedicated report Writer.
However, custom reports which are needed for decisions but not used daily fall into a space where they cannot justify all that custom code and inclusion in the main program.
I thought Access would be good for that, and might also be used, on occasion, to ad hoc a report that might be turned out in a few days (so, say, 10-15 hours—instead of a few months.). It might also be good to bridge between data and a customized smaller application (say finished goods inventory, when shipping information comes from the main application).
Anyway, I still don't know if this would work because nobody has yet found the time to investigate it (And Access) far enough.
The TEACHING Of ACCESS *SUCKS*, big time. De may have found a good book, which I will buy, but in general the information on how to actually ***PROGRAM*** Access is hidden away and ***NOT*** Covered in most books and courses on Access.
So, that led to my question (to which I still don't have an answer) is there something in Access which makes automating it with VBA really, really, really difficult and sketchy? Or is there some other reason why there remains a relatively HUGE void in what should be rather trivial for anyone with enough intelligence to take a basic Python Class to master?
The void is real, I'm telling you, as someone who spent many hours, and more than a few dollars, trying to find this “missing link”.
And now we are determined to move away from Microsoft and Windows toward Linux (they are pushing hard to OWN all their remaining users … and OWN means TOTALLY OWN...AND treat like a cheap whore.)
Further, even if you don't agree with my assessment of what Microsoft is doing, and why, it is a simple truth which the world seems to be yet oblivious to:
CLOUD COMPUTING AND 24/7 INTERNET FOR BUSINESS CORE APPLICATIONS IS NOT THE FUTURE FOR MOST BUSINESSES. IT IS A BRAIN-DEAD IDEA WHICH INVITES BOTH THE GOVERNMENT FISHING EXPEDITIONS (CLOUD DATA DOESN'T REQUIRE THE BUSINESS GET A SEARCH WARRANT OR OTHER OFFICIAL NOTIFICATION) AND DRIVE-BY RANSOMWARE/ HACKING.
That is a simple, incontrovertible truth. Approximately 100% of Microsoft's endless "security" and bug fixing/updating, and other “maintenance” by other applications, is utterly unnecessary if you "simply" unplug the 24/7 internet (it is not simple once you get on the treadmill of 'subscription' software...although it could be).
Most users, for most businesses, don't need the internet AT ALL most of the time. When they do? Get them a separate wifi laptop and keep them off the main server/LAN.
But that doesn't maximize Microsoft's pimp-whore (master-slave) model of doing business....
So neither Microsoft nor Access can apparently be a cornerstone of future business for things like factories or hospitals or ... well, any business which doesn't want to be **OWNED** and EXPLOITED endlessly.
Linux + LibreOffice+ Postgres + A GOOD ACCESS CLONE WOULD BE AWESOME!
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P.S. If you haven't tried http://www.evorim.com/en/free-firewall on your Windows 10 machine, you really should. It blocks Microsoft quite effectively and gives you a vastly better sense of how awful Windoz is is you want an internet but don't want to be endlessly hacked and exploited.
You can app by app, or instance by instance, get control of internet access. Really, 100% of Windoz “updates” become unnecessary for most use cases. And when you DO want to get info from the internet, or are updating /installing new software, you can do that under your terms, enabling Brave with Evorim or providing short-term internet to specific applications..and then turning off that access again.
Is should be part of basic prophylaxis for everyone who insists that john-pimp-whore sex is the only way to love. At least until we can get full ownership, and control, of our machines, and our data, and software back.
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