Maybe because writing an Access database still requires a programmer, and you can get better value by hiring a PHP programmer to write two pages and three tables.
I think you are right. For soft applications, Excel is a powerful enough database that non-programmers can use. Anything Excel can't do can be done 'easily' by mysql.
I know that I've sat down to learn access (and later LibreOffice Base) but by the time I start into it I just think "there's really no advantage to using this over just mysql and a web page front end" and stop learning.
I'd say that the "new Access" is WordPress or Drupal. They're often used in much the same way - create a bunch of entity types that automatically connect with forms and views.
Yep, this is what always happens with these types of applications. There was a whole slew of these type of tools in the 90s dubbed '4GL' with the idea they were a level above traditional programming (3GL) where business people could drag &drop their way to a new app.
It was a disaster and none of those 4GLs are around anymore. There is no interface that's as easy as sending an email to a developer saying "I need an app that does this..."
They are around though. I did a job at a company that had a 4GL app used by business analysts to generate the APIs, UI and business logic to be used for e.g. mortgage calculations on websites.
The thing is though, you actually require a server and apache etc for the PHP example.
For a front office/business person who doesn't do IT as a full time job but has a reasonable grasp of technology, they can create something "good enough" quite easily, without having to go through the whole Corporate IT process.
This is also why Corporate IT doesn't like the Front Office getting Access, as they still ask for support when their home-brew app goes wrong.
> Corporate IT doesn't like the Front Office getting Access, as they still ask for support when their home-brew app goes wrong.
The Access contraption then gets an ODBC backend to a proper database. Then parts of the Access Visual Basic spaghetti get ported to PHP. Other parts get ported to JSP. It ends up getting entirely ported - but for lack of budget for a full rewrite, the previously developed JSP parts are preserved. The whole thing doesn't take advantage of contemporary UI patterns because it closely matches the design of the original Access database. I'll spare you all the episodes of crippling slowness and the data corruption catastrophes that triggered each improvement increment.
On the other hand, the users managed to build themselves a serviceable tool when the IT wouldn't even speak to them without a ten-months project - and then they foisted it upon IT... From their point of view the ugly ten-years journey has been a success !
Oh yes - I forgot to mention the schlepping of VBS code across two Microsoft Office upgrades during the application's lifetime... And the migration exemptions that last for years while the porting is done - lots of love from the desktop IT department to this application...
Likely correct. I'm part of a grant writing firm (http://www.seliger.com) and in the '90s and early 2000s we ran tons of stuff on Access. Now almost everything we did then runs on Highrise, Constant Contact / Mail Chimp, and the like. Basically, everything we did became a web app that works better and is easier (at least for us) to use.
I know that I've sat down to learn access (and later LibreOffice Base) but by the time I start into it I just think "there's really no advantage to using this over just mysql and a web page front end" and stop learning.