[chii]

i actually doubt the problems with access are really that bad - sure you outgrow it eventually, but you'd be surprised at what its capable of.

Often the real underlying cause is that a business owner with little to no programming knowledge makes something which works ok, but is architectually wrong. For example, bad table structure/relationships. Or after a while, they want to 'put their app online', and asks a poor intern to convert it.

[mathattack]

This is true too. Sometimes screens are designed by people who don't think in terms of relational tables, and then the data eventually gets messed up.