L
Larry Linson
William Vaughn (MVP) said:
First, one correction: _many_ have implemented web sites or web applications
with Jet and _many_ of them _are_ (not "seem to be") working; many are
working quite well, in fact. You don't bolster your argument with
unfounded, condescending dismissals.
Actually, it's more like building a bridge out of cypress or oak. You
wouldn't want to do that on an Interstate, but there are some around that
have been serviceable for a long, long time, for modest traffic of cars,
trucks, and lesser vehicles.
Hmm. Sounds as if you are part of the
everything-is-going-to-grow-to-an-enterprise-application crowd, Bill. That's
an implicit assumption of many who argue that only tools suitable for
enterprise applications are suitable for any application.
I, on the other hand, hesitate to encourage people who aren't necessarily
professional programmers or databasers that they should _start_ with
something that requires them to become professionals, on the off-chance that
their application or website will grow to need it. Typically, they aren't
going to change professions, and, also typically, they can't afford to hire
a Bill Vaughn to create one for them (at the point that they need a
"starter" application).
I've been in this business for a good many years, and I've never seen a
small application grow to be an enterprise application simply by "scaling".
Every one I've seen that made such a trip was rewritten completely at least
once. As far as I can see, "scalability" is almost always a bogus argument.
And, as for security, most of the sites that would use Jet wouldn't have
information of much worth to a cracker; but, highly secure sites are
penetrated, hacked, cracked every day; there's no absolute security.
If the original poster were asking about building something that would be
"another Amazon" then a recommendation of DotNet and MS SQL Server (or J2EE
and Oracle) would be appropriate -- because almost certainly something of
that scope would need them, and almost certainly, the only one who would
seriously undertake that would be a programming and database professional
(more likely a team of those).
On the other hand, it seems likely that anyone who would consider Jet/ACE
does not have a reasonable expectation that their site will grow, without
alteration, to be "another Amazon", and quite possibly, is neither a
programming nor database professional. One of the great advantages of
Access/Jet/ACE is that it allows the non-professional to create usable,
stable, solid database applications. There are many, despite condescending
digs by some in the "professional" community. There are also some failures,
but there are also a lot of failures of enterprise-application-scale
projects, as well. So, while it may be appropriate to warn that Jet will
have its limits, a blanket recommendation against Jet (or ACE, remember, now
that it is released) is unwarranted. (That's why I said, yours reads like a
post by aaron kempf.)
Your guess may be correct, that Jet is on the way out, in time. It may be
that ACE, too, is on the way out, but the mere fact that Microsoft made
significant investment in creating this descendant of Jet for Office 2007
indicates to me that it will not be on the way out any time in the near
future.
Larry Linson
Microsoft Office Access MVP