[jewel]

I've had this as my startup idea for at least four years now. I'd build a web-based database product that would fit in google apps with the intention of getting bought by google and integrated into google apps.

Even if I didn't make any money on the deal, at least I'd be able to have something better for tracking the progress of the cub scouts awards. It'd also let my wife and me set up the complex budget that we're trying to do right now in spreadsheets.

I bring this up with people who work for small businesses and they all recognize the pain point. Those that are old enough remember the good old days when you could put an Access file on a network share and then run your entire business out of it.

[bradleyland]

Zoho Creator is probably the closest thing to a web-based Access product that I've seen, and it's still not quite Access. Access occupied a very strange space in between an actual application framework, a database GUI, and an IDE.

[kyllo]

I personally would not want to be responsible for security for a web-based Access clone. Enormous attack surface area.

But I think Access is awesome for making and battle-testing prototypes that can eventually become actual CRUD apps. Great intermediate step somewhere in-between e-mailing spreadsheets and building a Rails app, for getting shit done at the office.

[bradleyland]

Agree 100% on this. To truly replicate Access online, you'll have to provide some sort of scripting interface that is moderately performant. Seems like a complete nightmare.

[hackerews]

Scripting for access? How so? I thought it was only queries and forms.

[kyllo]

Three letters: VBA.

[hackerews]

Ha. After years of Access, never realized VBA was popular with it.

[eatonphil]

If you're interested, I've wanted to work on this too. In particular, creating an online, PaaS database service so you can store and manipulate data via SQL queries without needing to setup and maintain (and share across machines) your own sql server. It's something I find myself wishing I had.

[zyxley]

The key parts of Access aren't that it can have SQL queries, it's that it (a) has a UI where you can easily edit tables (without worrying much about schemas and so on), (b) has a UI where you can plug tables into WYSIWYG-edited reports, and (c) has a UI where you can plug tables into WYSIWYG-edited forms.