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Imagine what Microsoft could have made out of Access. It really should have been extended to a full blown multi-user server/client DB system, keeping the RAD capabilities. It would have really rocked as a replacement for all the Lotus Notes databases (that are still around). Instead we got SharePoint :(

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I started off with an Access database. Then we split the JET DB backend out from the front end and put that on a shared drive. Then we replaced the backend with SQL Server (without changing the front end.) Then eventually it all got migrated to an ASP.Net backend + single page application. It's still running 8 years later. Access is an incredibly flexible tool.

It already was such a system - configure the database to use a named ODBC data source that points to shared server instead of JET file, distribute, run.

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