>>Access had some merit. The report writer was pretty good. Actually, the SSRS designer was derived from Access.
>>One of the biggest issues with Access was how badly people abused it.
Such as multi-user apps over the Jet engine.
Interestingly, Borland made a similar decision with Paradox whose database could handle 6 multiuser writes/second on the same machine where Fox could do 1700. Strange how vendors sometimes seem to adopt a synchronized march towards ruination for customers. I see the same with a lot of database stuff today. E.g. NoSQL: healthcare is said to be a perfect fit, but in the end the caregivers and their admin support personnel should not have to make such decisions, just as you should not be required to weigh the pros and cons of prostheses and make your own decisions for a hip replacement. IMHO all of that ought to be encapsulated towards the likes of you so people can judge the elegance of the swan across the pond rather than having to rate the churning feet beneath. ;-)
"... They ne'er cared for us
yet: suffer us to famish, and their store-houses
crammed with grain; make edicts for usury, to
support usurers; repeal daily any wholesome act
established against the rich, and provide more
piercing statutes daily, to chain up and restrain
the poor. If the wars eat us not up, they will; and
there's all the love they bear us."
-- Shakespeare: Coriolanus, Act 1, scene 1