01 President's Message for 2006-05-15

Greetings

One my favorite cartoons graced the door of a colleague of mine at the University of Hartford in the 1980's.  It said "Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like bananas".

James King always attempts to "correct" me by insisting the second sentence should say "Fruit flies like A banana".  This would put the sentence in logical step with the first, but I feel this voids the comedic surprise and irony of the original.

For CtAUG, the time has flown for sure, and in some ways arrow-like.  We continue to create and implement meaningful computer databases with ease using our beloved ACCESS.   All around us new technologies swirl and entice us to experiment with new ways of generating useful information.

This technologic seascape is turbulent, confused and has lots of flotsam and jetsam floating around in it.  About half of the objects have Microsoft stamped on them, the others are identified by non-Microsoft escutcheons, viz: ASP, .NET, SQL Server, SharePoint, Oracle, LINUX, PHP, MySQL, etc.

ACCESS developers continue to use ACCESS 97, ACCESS 2000 and are just recently beginning to trust ACCESS 2003 (with the exception of people who have reported inexcusable faults in the product and have abandoned it for other versions or other products.)

When ACCESS developers want to create applications for the INTERNET, they are forced to leave ACCESS and embrace new tools.  Informal surveys at CtAUG and BAUG (Boston ACCESS User Group) indicate that only about 20% of those surveyed (ACCESS Developers) have used the .NET technology in any way.  Why not?

Another bit of gossip has it that in a survey of ACCESS applications around the world, only 3% (of the potential millions of applications) are worthy of being converted to the SQL Server technology.  What's my point?

My point is that there does not appear to be a consensus pointing to a coherent body of tools to implement every-day, basic business applications that employ the INTERNET.  Naturally, it is my belief that these tools should be BUILT INTO ACCESS.

As I've told Microsoft Management, and the ACCESS Development Team, "Make ACCESS better, not different!"

What are WE going to do about this situation?  I'm glad you asked.

CtAUG is going to host a CtAUG Computer Store to make available to the world applications of all sizes that are based on ACCESS.  I have discussed this general concept with John Froehlich, Pat Hartman and Ed O'Reilly.  Anyone can submit an application that must meet several specifications:

1. It must be reviewed and approved by a Technology Committee.  This ad hoc committee now consists of John Froehlich, Ed O'Reilly and myself.   We expect to invite Pat Hartman and Sarah Worthen to serve, and will consider anyone else who wants to volunteer.  Be advised, we intend to keep this committee small, focused and harmonious.

2. The application must conform to written programming and other standards set up by the Technology Committee.

3. The author of the application, where applicable, will keep any relevant intellectual property rights to his/her product.

4. The author will donate a percentage of the product's sale price (10% or so ...) and the buyer will consider the purchase a contribution to CtAUG.  All these details have to be consistent with the laws of the IRS and the State of Connecticut.

Our objectives are:

1. Serve our community (developers, users, businesses, etc.)
2. Generate operating funds for CtAUG
3. Provide a venue for developers to market the fruits of their intellect.

We welcome your constructive ideas, comments and suggestion.  We also intend that this project be shared with all ACCESS Organizations, developers, users and groupies throughout the world, throughout the INTERNET.

In the words of countless ACCESS Developers,


Holy Macro!

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02 TS2 Seminar: Tuesday, 16 May 2006, 1300 - 1500, Westborough, MA.   This was an excellent event ... I learned a lot about MS new products (VISTA, SharePoint, Office 2007, etc.).  I will elaborate on the new technologies when I learn more about them.

But, I did talk with the presenter, Neal "W" who did a great job giving the attendees a good overview of what the technology promised..  I invited him to talk before CtAUG at one of our regular meetings (2nd Wednesday of the month at MS Offices in Farmington, CT).

03 VS2005 Launch:  I also took the opportunity to talk with Rory Blyth who conducted the MSDN presentation that day.  I told him of our frustration at trying to make contact with anyone at MS who can help us get off the ground with the VS2005 Launch products.  Pointing us at thousands of self-help on-line sites does not qualify as 'help'.  He promised to help us put together a sound, meaningful training sequence, starting with Visual Studio 2005.

More later.

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04 MS ACCESS Help:  I ran across this site recently.  It looks very helpful ... check it out.

http://www.access-programmers.co.uk/

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05  2006-07-12 ShutDown: We have just recovered from a 4-day shutdown of all our sites.  This came about when I had to notify our ISP (who shall remain nameless to protect the unfortunately incompetent) of my new Credit Card Number.  We switched to HostBlue who have placed all 4 sites under ONE ACCOUNT with ONE ID and ONE PW!!!

http://www.access-programmers.co.uk/

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Frank Butash, Consultant/Educator, FrankButash@msn.com