After trying and failing to get MS Access to function on a DEC Alpha server, I finally gave up and installed SQL Server. It was a massive performance increase for many reasons, most of which related to MS Access being trash, but the better memory management in SQL server was part of it as well.

Sadly MS dropped support for Alpha, and changed the pricing models on NT and SQL Server so much it became unaffordable for small businesses. In 2 cuts, I watched the future of databases crumble.