Small Business Software

MS Access Versions

Over the years MS Access has not changed much in terms of it's interface and the basic building blocks it contains. 
I started off using Access version 2. This was a good version in many respects, but was prone to being unstable when handling large amounts of data or users. The Jet database engine has always suffered from these problems. You could still accomplish a lot and build rather nice systems. 

Access version 2 was the version that really established Access as the new great tool on the block. Competitors around at the time were Paradox, DBase, Dataease, Lotus Approach etc. MS Access had the big name of Microsoft behind, was part of the MS Office suite and quickly established itself in the marketplace. Many companies advertised for Access developers to develop systems.

Access 95 was a version that seemed to come and go. It was part of Office 95 and was not seen as being much of an improvement on Access 2. 

Access 97 came next and this was a vast improvement on all previous versions. In fact this was my favorite version so far. Even though I have Access 2000 I feel more comfortable using Access 97. I find it less bloated and contains only what I need. It was certainly more stable than Access 2. 

Access 2000 is a good robust version that carries on and enhances the great Access legacy. I found it to be faster than previous versions. It introduced the ability to write native SQL queries and pass them through to a more professional database such as SQL Server or Oracle. 

Access 2003 - again not much has changed. I have only used this briefly and have not gone beyond this version as yet. Looking at magazine shots of Access 2007 it would seem the interface has changed somewhat and I believe the file format is no longer MDB. 

Versions so far of MS Access

Go To Main Software Page