Scientific said:
. . . One last thing though, how can I become like all
of you? What kind of books did you read to become
the greats that you are. I really do envy anyone who
can figure out Access :-(
"Greats" is a strong word. I, for one, only claim to be one of "The Great
Access Unwashed", and think John does, too. I'm not smarter than anyone
else, but, like the Eagles' song, "just spent more time with my back to the
wall".
John may have started with Access a little sooner than I... Access 1.0 was
released late October 1992, but I didn't get my copy ($88.88 at the
then-called-"Softwarehouse") until early January 1993. I'd been waiting
eagerly for the Windows version of Paradox, but found this "upstart" to be
so exciting that I advertised in my user group's newsletter in February and
March 1993, and held an organizational meeting for the Access Special
Interest Group (SIG) in April 1993, with a few over 60 attendees. That SIG
has been around ever since, and I am still co-Leader of it... yep, 15 years
and counting. And, except for a couple of brief interruptions for surgery
and vacation, I have used Access _every day_ since January 1993.
From the time I started with Access, I have been answering questions online,
first in the ACCESS "echo" of the old FidoNet hobbyist network; then in the
newsgroups. Early on, I would go to Access Help and search first, and most
of the questions I answered I had to recreate the situation to find a
solutions or to test the solution suggested by Help. Like John, I learned a
lot from others in the newsgroups.
The "breakthrough" for Access was Access 2.0, and one contributing factor
was that its Help had every word of the Access documentation. It's still a
good, solid version, 16-bit, if you don't need to try to protect your code
from being stolen (there was/is a security hole), and can run it on a real
or virtual machine with 1 GB of main memory or less. Access 97 was and is,
arguably, the best-ever version right out of the box. Access 2003 was the
"pinnacle" for "classic" Access. Access 2007 brought major changes to the
user Interface (some like them better than others -- I, for one, am not a
fan of The Ribbon, but it's here to stay, I think, so I'm investing some
time and energy in re-learning where to find the functions I need). From
discussions with the Access team at MVP Summits, I believe that Access is
going to be around a long time, yet, and that it is going to get better with
each new version that is released. From 1992 until now, 2009, it has already
had a substantially longer lifetime than many PC Products.
Some books I recommend: "Access Step by Step", for the new user; "Access
Inside Out" for the new to advanced end user and beginning developer;
"Access Developer's Handbook" (v 2002 was the last edition published, and
some of us surely missed having an edition for v 2007) for the developer.
Most of the best Access developers I know have a copy of (every edition of)
the Access Developer's Handbook, and agree with me that every edition has
paid for itself in saved time and effort the very first time I used it on
paying work.
You'll find a list of MVP's (and former MVP's) websites at my user group
SharePoint site,
http://sp.ntpcug.org/accesssig/default.aspx, on the very
first page. I especially recommend the tutorials by MVP Crystal Long for
learning.
I've been in the computer business for over 50 years, and never worked with
any other product where the people who knew about it were as good about
sharing their knowledge and helping other users as the Access community is.
Larry Linson
Microsoft Office Access MVP
Thanks again for your help!