I agree that Access is mainly useful as an end-user tool or for fairly simple in-house applications. However, if you buy a non-client/server application written in VB it will most likely use the JET database engine which is the same engine Access uses.

I know there are a lot of people using Access as a development tool. So I guess the answer to your question is that it's considered both an end-user tool and a developer tool. Like anything else, it depends on who you ask.



>i thought access97 was considered by MS to be inadequate for developing
>shrink wrapped general use applications because its
>data access speed/reliability is not very good.
>Wouldn't MS recommend that such a shrink wrapped application
> be made in Visual Basic not in Access97 ?
>
>isnt Access97 an ad hoc tool to be used by a small business who wants a small database for his own personal use and nothing more ?
>or is Access97 considered a development tool or both ?
>
>our company uses telemagic and we find it reliable and fast
>,but i always thought for general use applications that vfp was not recommended by MS