Access:Mac is a relational database product that is sorely needed

G

Guest

Hands down the best personal relational database product on the market for
those proficient in SQL is Access. Unfortunately, it's currently only
available for Windows environments. The geniusness behind Access is that one
can create relational databases of any complexity without first having to
learn arcane scripting languages and/or lists of new functions. But Access
is sorely needed for the Mac OS X environment too. The new Filemaker Pro 8,
which is available for Mac OS X, is prohibitively complex when starting a
database from scratch; perhaps that's why they're pushing templates that can
be copied and modified. An examination of the workings of some of the
multi-table "relational" Filemaker Pro 8 templates reveals a bewildering
array of complex scripts that control everything. This implies a horrendous
learning curve just to get started. I would pay $500 for Access:Mac because
there's nothing else in the Mac OS environment that comes close.

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http://www.microsoft.com/office/com...-a92f-382e76c191ae&dg=microsoft.public.access
 
M

Mike Painter

wekj said:
Hands down the best personal relational database product on the
market for those proficient in SQL is Access. Unfortunately, it's
currently only available for Windows environments. The geniusness
behind Access is that one can create relational databases of any
complexity without first having to learn arcane scripting languages
and/or lists of new functions. But Access is sorely needed for the
Mac OS X environment too. The new Filemaker Pro 8, which is
available for Mac OS X, is prohibitively complex when starting a
database from scratch; perhaps that's why they're pushing templates
that can be copied and modified. An examination of the workings of
some of the multi-table "relational" Filemaker Pro 8 templates
reveals a bewildering array of complex scripts that control
everything. This implies a horrendous learning curve just to get
started. I would pay $500 for Access:Mac because there's nothing
else in the Mac OS environment that comes close.

While there are still a few references to the Mac in the help file it's not
likely to happen.
The demand in the Windows environment is not that great and there never was
nearly that big a demand in the Mac world.
HyperCard was going to rule the universe.
dBase just faded away.
That leaves FM which sounds like it's getting hard at both ends now and 4D
which is essentially a one man show and very awkward in a lot of places.

I suspect the emulator is the only solution and that this is going to speed
up the decline of the Mac.

Certainly Apples decision to not port CP/M to the II and allow CP/M cards
hurt them badly in the early days when business decided they needed a
computer.
They bought an Apple for Visi-calc, then a card for business solutions and a
CP/M computer the next time around.
 

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