Access 2007 demo video online

It looks like Clint gave a demo on Access 2007 and it's live right here, on MSDN TV. The colors in the demo seem a little off, so don't think the product actually looks like that :)

It's definetely paying close attention to the new filtering menus that he demos. There's even some Access with Office Live action going on.

Comments

  • Anonymous
    April 21, 2006
    Actually, the whole demo made it look very very slow, like a very slow GoToMyPC connection on 256 colors).  I suspect (hope) that was an artifact of the video.  The slowness did not make SharePoint look very good.

    I still don't get it with SharePoint.  If you want Enterprise, why not just go with SQL Server/ADE over the Internet or VPN?  You can do web services with SQL Server/VS.NET just as well as with SharePoint.  And (.NET) Web Services actually look to be a whole lot easier and cheaper that SharePoint.  Does SharePoint somehow scale better than straight SQL Server????  I really wish someone would lay out the pros and cons of those 2 options.  
  • Anonymous
    April 21, 2006
    Al,

    If I had to guess, I'd guess that the demo was done using Virtual PC with 256 colors, which makes things slooooow. Things are definetely looking better and snappier on one of my machines, which is a Pentium III 800Mhz...

    As for SharePoint vs. SQL, I guess the answer lies in the fact that SharePoint uses a database  (MS SQL, MSDE or other SQL-like database product) simply as its data store: SharePoint adds web-based functionality that is very useful for Intranet solutions and such.

    As far as using Access with it, SharePoint is a very straightforward way to have a web-front to your solutions - or just plain colaborations - without having to write all the IIS/ASP/ASP.Net stuff from scratch and making use of SharePoint's administration features to do things like history, permissions, backups, etc. Particularly for big companies, being able to use an off-the-shelf intranet/internet portal solution-friendly platform is really useful (and surely saves a lot of cost vs. custom SQL/VS.NET apps).

    Even further, SharePoint is being used very broadly, so there is a good chance that you can use Access to actually add value (red alert, marketing keyword) to existing SharePoint solutions by using Access to generate some reports and/or workflow scenarios around it - or plain just have a rich client that you can take the data offline when you travel.

    Of course, if you want at the end of the day to be closer to the metal and/or don't care about any of this intranet/web-based/colaboration features but mainly about performance and control over the raw data (or simply wants to roll your own backup/permission/what-not) then using SQL might make more sense than SharePoint.

    Well, this is my 2c. I'm not really a SharePoint expert, so please take this with a grain of salt :) You might want to check the SharePoint website for in-depth content: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/FX010909721033.aspx.
  • Anonymous
    April 22, 2006
    Thanks 3of5, I think you're probably right about SharePoint.  I have already studied the MS web site, and looked at all the demos.  

    I just can't see SharePoint giving me my current sub-second rich client screen updates and form loads.  For many heavy-duty data apps, speed of data retrieval/update is extremely important.  We don't want to wait for the computer to catch up with us.  I kinda doubt SharePoint (or any web app/thin client) has a role there.