>Here's a copy
>
>ACCESS OR VISUAL FOXPRO?
>Since your backend is a SQL Server / MSDE database, both Access and Visual FoxPro can be used as frontends. We would recommend Access 2000 over FoxPro for three basic reasons.
>ADP - Access 2000 is now fully integrated with SQL Server through a new feature called Access Data Projects (ADP). Previously you had to use linked tables, SQL pass-through queries, or ODBC directly to communicate with the SQL Server backend. With ADP developers have direct access to SQL Server tables from within the Access environment. Access 2000 can also directly work with Microsoft's new database engine MSDE 1.0 (which is actually SQL Sever core without the user interface) through ADP. However in our opinion, the Jet Engine (MDB files) is still efficient for localized processing of smaller subsets of large data. The only disadvantage of using Access ADP is that your backend will have to be SQL Server or MSDE. You cannot use it for Oracle or Sybase backends.
This means that either you are stuck with jet, or stuck with MS SQL-Server. Forever. Jet limits the number of users and the total size of the mdb. SQL-Server is expensive, and may require a DBA to fine tune it. FoxPro, when properly designed, will allow you to move from Fox tables to SQL tables easily. Also, you can choose your server. You could use PostgreSQL (free) on a Linux server (again, free of charge.)

>FAMILIARITY - Since your developers are familiar with Access 2000, you can minimize training and hiring costs by continuing to work with Access. Although some of our work has been in FoxPro, we are more knowledgable about using Access to develop frontends to SQL Server.
They are more knowledgable about using Access. This is only an advantage if you hire them, not an advantage of Access in general.

>COST - Access development is also more economic. Since it more widely used than Visual FoxPro, tools, resources, and help is more easily available for Access. The cost can be dramatically lower if you are building a system where Access is going to work with its native database.
What about the size limits of the mdb? What about the development advantage of OOP? What about the help available here in this forum? (Weems readily available to me!) Again, they see this as an advantage to them, but this is not due to Access itself.

>However, there are few advantages of using FoxPro which do not directly impact why Access should be used over FoxPro in working with SQL Sever/MSDE. Unlike Access, FoxPro is a true Client/Server system. FoxPro can be used to create both the frontend and the backend in a high performance Client/Server solution. Visual FoxPro also comes with its own object oriented programming language which is specially useful when a large number of programmers are cooperating on the same project. FoxPro also offers Active Documents which can be hosted by Active Document Containers like the Internet Explorer.
Again, FoxPro can be used against native tables or migrate to ANY SQL database.