Kexi Project – “Microsoft Access for Linux” | Hacker News Reader

Kexi Project – “Microsoft Access for Linux”

kexi-project.org

19 pointsrbanffy10 comments

"When you compare Linux and Windows applications feature for feature, there is very little, if anything, that Microsoft has that Linux hasn't yet perfected."

https://i.imgur.com/PcHtYWC.png

I'm still waiting for working suspend-resume on my Linux laptops.

Question as a guy unfamiliar with Microsoft Access. What is so good/better about Microsoft access, that other open-source databases already do not provide?.

Ease of use by non-programmers/sysadmins, essentially. (Note that even Microsoft recommends not using Access if you have an actual IT staff with a DBA, and to get SQL Server instead)

Which is why I’m having trouble picturing the market for this. How big is the overlapping region in the Venn diagram of “Linux users” and “people who need a hand-holding not-really-a-database”?

> Which is why I’m having trouble picturing the market for this. How big is the overlapping region in the Venn diagram of “Linux users” and “people who need a hand-holding not-really-a-database”?

Probably big enough. Most developers would probably reach straight for a database but anyone outside the developer group (sysadmins, hobbyists, laymen using linux) could probably benefit. Maybe even low level devs that never touch databases, but they could probably learn sql just as easily as kexi. Another one would be any group of non-devs that have or could build a database but want an easy way to build a front end for it, think of the sort of things you'd build a bare bones web front end for.

Well, that's not really the target. It's to get another check unchecked that keeps people from switching from Windows to another platform. For now, yes, I agree with you.

I don't spend much time with Access. But the two things I see as helpful are a) handy connection with Excel, and b) readily produced printable reports. If you aren't already in the Microsoft Office world, the first is no real advantage.

It's been a LONGGG time, but Access (Access 97) used to include essentially a limited version of Crystal Reports built in.

Also, the Jet database engine was more or less freely available as a part of many Windows products. Even if you didn't have Access, you could still use the Jet database engine programmatically, IIRC. And/or pass such functionality along to coworkers who didn't have Access.

In many office environments, essentially if they gave you a PC with Windows and Office on it, you had some level of ability to database. A lot of clueful office dwellers with no ability to requisition anything more, made their lives easier and more interesting by taking advantage of this.

These days? I've been away from such environments for a good deal of time, but given the nature of humans and their workplaces... I wouldn't be too surprised to find that essentially not much has changed, in this regard. But that's just my commentary; I don't know.

I would imagine that most Linux users have learned to hate Access. Who might this appeal to?

While I can (and often do) get along well doing manual inserts from the command line, not all my semi-technical users would be happy (or would be trusted) with a command line.

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