Microsoft Access Team Blog

There also a copy of that Video on you-tube with closed captions courtesy of Access MVP Crystal if any of you are hearing impaired, or you simply need captioned text along with the video:

You can find that here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AU4mH0jPntI

enjoy...

Impressive!

P.S.

Off-topic: Before I left for summer holiday I filled up an invitation form for Office 2010 beta testing (Microsoft Connect). I think my status was "Pending" by that time. I had a five week holiday this year and when I came back the status has gone and I have no idea how to get MS Office 2010 beta. Any ideas, please?

Hey Albert... is that your voice narrating this demo? It doesn't sound like you... Okay, well, we've never met in person, so I guess I should say... it doesn't sound like I imagine you sound like! :)

Wow. That looks so fun!

Amazing I am so looking forward to getting my hands on 2010. I hated 2007 and have avoided it like the plague but THIS.... this with the Web stuff, looks like a must have version.

Good Job.

Fred:

Hey Albert... is that your voice narrating this demo? It doesn't sound like you

Yes, It is my voice. However I agree with you and did not think I sound like that! So, it is my voice and I guess it is interesting to meet myself!

The Yahoo link I posted above has closed captions and also does have a picture of me at the start and end of that video if you wondering what I look like (I look a lot like Bill Gates)

Bruce: this with the Web stuff, looks like a must have version.

Thanks for the kind words. I think the cool part here is that the web control, picture control, new nav control and the new table data macros (triggers) are ALL features that I will and can use in my long time VBA applications. In other words, a lot of those new features are 100% useful for desktop only VBA applications.

The new web stuff is just the 1st step here. It is kind of like access 1.0 for the web. I think it is important for ALL products to have some type of web future and I thrilled to see access join the web party.

I tested that application in Firefox and it runs perfect. I not tried it on a smart phone or a Mac yet, but this just gives some ideas of the new doors opening up here.

Albert

FYI: I can tell you it runs perfectly on Mac Safari. :) (Though I didn't tested extensively but with what I had, it worked just as it would in other browsers.)

Banana, thanks, I just love the whole idea of Access web app running on Mac Safari.  I'm waiting for someone to test thus on Linux.  Hehehe

I will see if I get around to test it on a Linux VM I have, but I'd expect that Firefox on Linux to work equally well as ideally, the web engine should be OS-independent. Of course, there are exceptions (e.g. ActiveX controls or requests that binds into a native application such as File Transfer Manager) but for the HTML rendering itself, it shouldn't be affected by what OS it's running on (and would be a bad browser if it was...)

Hi Client, I have created a webDB in Access 2010, how can I open it to a browser like you mentioned? do I need sharepoint server in order to run this stuff? please post a tutorial or a steps on how to make our access webDB work in a browser.

Thanks and more power!

Gerald

Clint,

Thanks for the confirmation; it's just as I expect and that's a tremendously great news, bringing Access to the other platforms, even if not as full-featured as the traditional client install.

Off-topic (?):

We also need controls to ease handling files on the Internet (download & upload), something like Internet Transfer Control (Inet) in VB6. Of course, we need more controls... and at least one control that would perform as a container, eg. PictureBox in VB6. ProgressBar would be nice as well... and a TreeView, UpDown, etc.

There are some problems with VB6 controls (ActiveX) in Access since they (in some ways) don't perform as expected.

Hi Clint,

I was under the immpression that you could only publish Access 2010 Web applications using Sharepoint is that correct?

Clint :

Impressive video of Access in a Browser!!

I went to MS Sharepoint site and it looks that there are several versions. Do I need MS Windows Server to install Sharepoint? I do hope that I can install the beta version of Sharepoint 2010 in Windows 7 Ultimate.

I am not interested in a Hosted site. I would like to know the present price of MS Sharepoint 2007 - the less expensive version. Then, I would have an ideia about the price of Sharepoint 2010. Does the local PC need also a Sharepoint client that you need to buy?

Thanks. Joao Santos.

I'm also curious the total cost of actually getting an Access App on the web.  And by on the Web, I mean publicly available on the web, not the intranet.  Anyone got some idea of this?

Pardon my skepticism, but I remember in (was it Office 2000?) where similar functionality was trumpeted by the technical evangelist of the day...after finally pushing him, it ended up that each user had to have an installed copy of Office on his PC, making the functionality useless for most real world cases.  Yet this was made out originally to be publishing to 'the web'...

Once bitten, twice shy I'm afraid...still I hope, in this case, the marketing/PR rhetoric actually matches reality, particularly since the team has decided to forgo long-overdue improvements, to focus on the web browser functionality.

Albert, I have the sneaking suspicion you actually ARE Bill Gates...just can't retire can you?  ;)

"Folks, we will put together a post on pricing."

I do LOVE the look of the Web stuff but as a ISV with many many small clients will all sorts of setups.

So Enterprise version of Sharepoint will never erver be an option for any of my clients.

So unless there is a cost effective hosted options out there... well it is back to Client side run-time model for me.

It would be great to get the development productivity and functionality of MS Access for web application development (even if only for enterprise intranet applications).  It will need an appropriate role-based security model.  Access 2007 has been difficult to adjust to and with more functional losses (security) than gains.  Tying web deployment to Sharepoint will greatly limit its potentional (unless a free Sharepoint Express is also released).  The demo is very encouraging.

As Bruce said, if there is a cost-effective hosting solution available, then that would probably be ok.

However, given Albert's comments earlier:

"The new web stuff is just the 1st step here. It is kind of like access 1.0 for the web. I think it is important for ALL products to have some type of web future and I thrilled to see access join the web party."

I would translate this to mean that it probably won't be useable for most real-world applications.  Still, it would seem like a step in the right direction, but then, we may find they change their mind down the track and it is left like a half-baked solution such as data access pages and ADPs.  Still I'm prepared to give em the benefit of the doubt.  

Sharepoint Express would be a very good ideia.

I would prefer a version that could be installed in windows 7...

But looks like that the requirement will be:

"Microsoft announced system requirements for SharePoint 2010. To ensure a strong user experience SharePoint 2010 will only be available for the 64 bit server platform. " I think Microsoft made Sharepoint for BIG enterprises. Not for individuals.

Joao Santos.