Developer Forum

Is there any advantages to upgrading to Access 2003 for developing
database-driven applications? I'm currently developing everything in Access
2002 and am considering either updating to the latest version (2003) or even
switching to Visual Studio 2005. With 2007 around the corner also I wasn't
sure if it's worth it to update to 2003.

Thanks,
Ryan

My *opinion*. No reason to update. Both 2002 and 2003 are based on the Jet 4
engine and both work fine as data repositories with either Visual Studio
.NET 2003 or Visual Studio 2005. I have students using both Access 2002 and
2003 databases with projects in VB.NET and C# in Visual Studio 2003 and 2005
with no issues.
I'd say wait for Office (Access) 2007.

--
Peter [MVP Visual Developer]
Jack of all trades, master of none.

There is not much differece between Access2002 and 2003 as data-driven
application development environment, unless your app must use some feature
only available to Access2003.

As for VS2005, it is completely different thing, based on .NET platform.
Your Access knowledge is mostly useless except for the data model analysis
and design. If you do choose to go to .NET (VS2002/3/5 are simply tools for
.NET development), the learning curve is steep and the Access specific
skill/habit may even make cofused in the .NET world. If you choose VB.NET
for .NET development, someone would say you may feel a bit home because of
the familia look of the syntex, while other would say that could make you
even more confused (many former VB/VBA programmers choose C# in .NET while
they still do VB/VBA programming for simply avoiding such confusion, such as
myself).

I'm actually using SQL 2000 as the data repository with Access 2002 for the
front-end development. Thanks for the advice though. Sounds like I'll be
sticking with my familiar Access development environment but I will do some
experimentation with VS 2005 to see if I eventually want to move to that.
I'm not new to programming (MCP in C++ desktop and of course the VBA
experience) so I don't think the transition from Access to VS 2005 would be
as difficult as perhaps it is for some.

For "normal business databases" in single-user, multi-user, and
client-server environments, it is very hard to beat Microsoft Access. You
will (that's not just a matter of opinion) spend a great deal more time and
effort creating the same Windows app to access a Jet or SQL Server database
with VB.NET or C#, once you learn "the Access way". On the other hand, if
you are going on to the Dot Net world, anyway, that would likely be a good
way to get started.

Larry Linson
Microsoft Access MVP

Try the 2007 beta rather than 2003 which is just another upgrade to Access
97. 2007 is a fresh look and approach and the first really new Access since
97.