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As the author points out, Access fills an interesting niche where Excel isn't quite enough, but a SQL database and all the stuff that goes along with it is way

As the author points out, Access fills an interesting niche where Excel isn't quite enough, but a SQL database and all the stuff that goes along with it is way too much. On top of that, it's completely local so you don't have to pay for licenses or worry about data policies. That niche is big enough to sustain Access pretty much indefinitely. I think the lesson here is that business users more often than not want something that 1) just works, 2) they can actually understand, and 3) doesn't require learning and setting up a bunch of other stuff to maintain or upgrade. It's easy to forget how big of a step up it is from Excel to a SQL-based application (or similar other business needs elsewhere) and how big of a barrier that is.

smacktoward 7y ago
Access also generally comes bundled with Office, so for a lot of people it's the tool they already have at hand. And people are always going to reach first for a tool they already have at hand, if one's available that looks even remotely like it will suit their needs. There are probably better database solutions for just about anything you'd want to build with Access, but getting something new requires doing research, getting approval, maybe allocating money, etc. Whereas if you have Office, Access is already sitting there on your computer, just waiting for you to pick it up and start making bad decisions.
- fortran77 7y ago
  I had No Idea it was installed on my machine! We pay for an Office licence per-seat here and, sure enough, I looked at installed programs and there it was.
  - TomVDB 7y ago
    Same here: no idea it was on my machine. But it is. It even has the modern look Win 10. I thought it has been sunset by Microsoft years ago.
WorldMaker 7y ago
Another key niche for Access was that MDB was for too long a time (decades) the only single-file DB format that people could reliably ship around as files / store on network shares / etc. Many a VB6 app used MDB as the underlying storage internals of their file format because it was convenient. SQLite has only relatively recently started to be an option in that niche of single-file databases.
perl4ever 7y ago
I'm not clear on why you are referring to Access as an alternative to a "SQL based application". Access's SQL dialect is extremely annoying sometimes, but using SQL is a very significant (if not the most) reason for utilizing it rather than Excel. I went around and around trying to find a way to query Excel "tables" with SQL or something similar, but eventually gave up. There is something called DAX, but it seems different just to be different, and nothing is orthogonal and logical - particularly external data is not on an equal footing with tables within your spreadsheet.
- SNACKeR99 7y ago
  If you are on Windows there is QueryStorm, and it works amazingly well IMO.
- LegitShady 7y ago
  I use DAX in Power BI which I believe shares a common data model with excel. Dax is powerful but sometimes frustrating. When you need bidirectional relationships you end up making custom measures to keep the whole model performant. Depending on the scale of the problem being looked at it becomes a mess. But Power BI is the access of dashboard world...
  - perl4ever 7y ago
    Based on my limited experience, Power Pivot has a maddening lack of smooth integration with Excel. Power BI is a separate install, I believe, so not currently an option. I'm stuck with Office 2013 for the time being and can't upgrade or install anything. If I could use anything, I'd probably prefer to go back to SSRS. Maybe Informatica, or OBIEE or something. I'm biased by spending so many years writing SQL, but I found it extremely cumbersome to do basic things in DAX even after I figured out how, and haven't seen any obvious advantages. But I do know for a fact that software newer than 2013 adds some crucial features that would make it better.
    - LegitShady 7y ago
      Ya it's tough if you're stuck on 2013. Sometimes even random commands in excel are great and you find out they work at home but not at the version at work, or require office 365 (?!). Access? I recommend watching some youtube power bi videos for dax tricks. Lots of dax stuff on youtube. Or radacad.

smacktoward 7y ago

Access also generally comes bundled with Office, so for a lot of people it's the tool they already have at hand. And people are always going to reach first for a tool they already have at hand, if one's available that looks even remotely like it will suit their needs. There are probably better database solutions for just about anything you'd want to build with Access, but getting something new requires doing research, getting approval, maybe allocating money, etc. Whereas if you have Office, Access is already sitting there on your computer, just waiting for you to pick it up and start making bad decisions.

fortran77 7y ago
I had No Idea it was installed on my machine! We pay for an Office licence per-seat here and, sure enough, I looked at installed programs and there it was.
- TomVDB 7y ago
  Same here: no idea it was on my machine. But it is. It even has the modern look Win 10. I thought it has been sunset by Microsoft years ago.

WorldMaker 7y ago

Another key niche for Access was that MDB was for too long a time (decades) the only single-file DB format that people could reliably ship around as files / store on network shares / etc. Many a VB6 app used MDB as the underlying storage internals of their file format because it was convenient. SQLite has only relatively recently started to be an option in that niche of single-file databases.

perl4ever 7y ago

I'm not clear on why you are referring to Access as an alternative to a "SQL based application". Access's SQL dialect is extremely annoying sometimes, but using SQL is a very significant (if not the most) reason for utilizing it rather than Excel. I went around and around trying to find a way to query Excel "tables" with SQL or something similar, but eventually gave up. There is something called DAX, but it seems different just to be different, and nothing is orthogonal and logical - particularly external data is not on an equal footing with tables within your spreadsheet.

SNACKeR99 7y ago
If you are on Windows there is QueryStorm, and it works amazingly well IMO.
LegitShady 7y ago
I use DAX in Power BI which I believe shares a common data model with excel. Dax is powerful but sometimes frustrating. When you need bidirectional relationships you end up making custom measures to keep the whole model performant. Depending on the scale of the problem being looked at it becomes a mess. But Power BI is the access of dashboard world...
- perl4ever 7y ago
  Based on my limited experience, Power Pivot has a maddening lack of smooth integration with Excel. Power BI is a separate install, I believe, so not currently an option. I'm stuck with Office 2013 for the time being and can't upgrade or install anything. If I could use anything, I'd probably prefer to go back to SSRS. Maybe Informatica, or OBIEE or something. I'm biased by spending so many years writing SQL, but I found it extremely cumbersome to do basic things in DAX even after I figured out how, and haven't seen any obvious advantages. But I do know for a fact that software newer than 2013 adds some crucial features that would make it better.
  - LegitShady 7y ago
    Ya it's tough if you're stuck on 2013. Sometimes even random commands in excel are great and you find out they work at home but not at the version at work, or require office 365 (?!). Access? I recommend watching some youtube power bi videos for dax tricks. Lots of dax stuff on youtube. Or radacad.