fsavard2

That's interesting, Samuel Pepys appears as a character in Neal Stephenson's Baroque Cycle, but I didn't know he was an actual historical figure.

Maybe the problem when I was searching was that actually MS Access is a narrow tool (centered around the database), whereas platforms that replaced it (RAD for mobile/web) offer a wider range of features, so searching for an "MS Access replacement" is searching with the wrong keyword given how these tools have evolved.

Still if I look at your site (Mendix) and my mindset is "I just want a few tables and a few simple forms", my guess is that if I were a non-developer I could be a bit overwhelmed. But as you say Mendix targets large companies.

Thanks for the pointer. I searched a bit at the time (2 years ago) and found a few platforms for rapid app development. I guess I didn't search hard enough, or I simply gave up because there was no obvious choice, like MS Access used to be. The person I developed the prototype for was also very wary of smaller platforms due to lock-in, risk of the company going bust, etc.

But Alpha Anywhere seems to have a long history and some traction, that's good to know.

Actually, genuinely curious here, does anyone know of a solid (popular) equivalent of MS Access, but web-based? The feature I'd put emphasis on is rapid point-and-click form creation, not the database and tables part (for that of course there are plenty).

I've developped a few web applications and forms along the years, but never could I get something together as quick as I did when I decided to try MS Access, for a prototype app. E.g. I've used Django, yes I can create forms pretty quick, but with Access with _no programming_ and 2-3 hours of familiarization I could put up forms with create/edit/delete functionality in something like 30 minutes, along with the underlying schema.

I haven't touched it since I created that prototype, but I was left wondering what's the equivalent in the webapp world, for the basic CRUD use-case.

This page describes that system, I think:

http://www.oldhouseweb.com/how-to-advice/gravity-hot-water-h...

(the "Honeywell Heat Generator")

Do you think/feel this affects how close-knit a team can be in your company?

From what you say you don't seem to use video much (for one-on-one), so a lot of visual/non-verbal is lost (also there are no non-work regular meetups, e.g. lunches, which I think helps with nurturing a bit of informality).

Also when someone is sitting next to me the threshold for asking a question is rather low, and when working remote I tend to waste more time looking for answers on my own. So my guess is that would affect productivity also.

But still I wonder if there are many of these completely remote largish (> 15, say) companies. It's a very interesting model.

Ok I see, you're saying that hidden away in the various strata in that graph are, e.g., process inefficiencies which software can eat away. I was naively looking for something that would solve many categories at once, and being an outsider I think of solar as mostly hardware (like you said). Thanks for the answer.

I'm not at all knowledgeable about the solar industry, but I'm curious: how would software reduce the "soft" costs described in that third link (NREL)? It seems to me to be a bunch of costs related to the actors involved, and I don't see how software would help with that. Also, do you have examples of such software?