A trip down memory lane (1 Viewer)

isladogs · Feb 8, 2019

Whilst the site was down today, I was going through old files and found a long discarded copy of Access 1.0 from 1992 so decided to install it on a VM as part of my research into system tables.

Its on just 6 floppy disks and that includes Northwind and two other sample databases. The basic structure was, as you can see, already in place in version 1.

So I now have VMs with every version of Access from 1.0 through to 2019.
So if anyone needs any old files converting, I may well be able to help

The_Doc_Man · Feb 8, 2019

Ye GODS and little fishes, THAT is a blast from the past. You've got ME beat, Colin, 'cause I didn't start with Access until 2.0 came out. Before that I was a Paradox for DOS user. (Before that, DEC Datatrieve, but THAT is a whole other story!)

isladogs · Feb 8, 2019

I actually started with A97 after moving on from Paradox for Windows (which I really hated).
I picked up old copies of Access 1.0, 2.0 and 95 much later.

Someone was asking for an old copy of Northwind yesterday. Can't get much older than this one!

NauticalGent · Feb 8, 2019

'purt near impressive, Col...

Frothingslosh · Feb 8, 2019

Wow, I've never seen Access 1.0 before. Like Doc, I started with Access 2, although I took a detour away from database work for quite some time after a few years. That was actually my intro to database programming.

We were having a meeting, and the operations manager asked, "Froth, you're good with computers. Do you know Access?"
When I said no, he asked if I could learn it. When I said 'Sure,' he slid this giant stack of books at me and said 'Good, we need this database by Friday'.

Me and my 25 year old big mouth.

That first application was a combination employee time tracking and project management system we just called 'the Hours database', and it took roughly a month for me to build. I'm sure it was just a mess, but it worked. The hardest part was the project detail report; it was so ridiculously complex that a couple times, MS Tech Support (they still offered free support then) was shocked that some of the things could be done (I had a lot of help from them), it took 3 hours to run, and it was two landscape-orientation 11 x 17 pages in width. And it had reached the point that opening it in design view rather than SQL view would break it. That was also where I learned the existence of the Pentium floating-point bug.

I enjoyed working there, but they ended up going out of business because GM, at least back then, basically refused to pay vendors until bills were at least 6 months overdue. When I left, the company was owed over $20 million, and it was so broke that none of its own vendors were taking anything but cash up front.

isladogs · Feb 8, 2019

In fact there are 9 floppy disks in the complete install though I'd only loaded the first 6 earlier.

I've now installed the last 3 as well so I can now in theory connect it to SQL Server (disk7). There were several more example databases on disk8 including
2 x PIMs, Business Forms Sampler, Inventory for Sweets company, Order Entry as well as Northwind

It came with a huge amount of other help including 'cue cards' - remember them?

TanyaCharbury · Dec 12, 2019

I love this!! Wow. Happy memories ... though I started with Access 1.1 not 1.0 ... very similar, I gather.

Wow, finding this forum is like owning a time machine. I love it ... thank you!

~Tanya

Gasman · Dec 12, 2019

I know the weather is particularly bad today Colin, but you need to get out more.

I thought I was bad.

isladogs · Dec 12, 2019

Well the thread is 10 months old.

At the time I reinstalled it for a reason.
Someone wanted an Access 1.0 file updated to a new ACCDB version for A2013. I was able to successfully convert it in stages to A2.0 then A97 followed by A2003 and finally ACCDB. It worked perfectly!

Anyway the weather is indeed terrible here plus I have roofers fixing a leaking roof and a sick dog throwing up everywhere. Still it helps keep my mind off the likely election result.

gemma-the-husky · Dec 12, 2019

I started with A97

Nice small footprint, and eminently usable. A2003 added some useful stuff, but nothing you absolutely had to have, and later versions are much the same. For these reasons, I still use A2003 as my base development version. (I like the object search bar in the current database window, but otherwise much prefer the A2003 look and feel.)

Gasman · Dec 12, 2019

Doh!, never noticed that, and I'd not noticed the site being down. :banghead:

isladogs said:
Well the thread is 10 months old.

At the time I reinstalled it for a reason.
Someone wanted an Access 1.0 file updated to a new ACCDB version for A2013. I was able to successfully convert it in stages to A2.0 then A97 followed by A2003 and finally ACCDB. It worked perfectly!

Anyway the weather is indeed terrible here plus I have roofers fixing a leaking roof and a sick dog throwing up everywhere. Still it helps keep my mind off the likely election result.

kevlray · Dec 12, 2019

I do not remember what Access I first looked at (not that I had any idea what to do with it), but the screen shot does look familiar.

john_S · Aug 11, 2021

It looked at lot like that in the 2.0 version too. I remember working in DBase2-4 and FoxPro. Which are not bad applications, for the time they were around. But Access has so much to offer and in my opinion way easier to use.

isladogs · Aug 11, 2021

I came to Access after using Paradox for Windows which I hated.
Versions 1 & 2 used Access Basic with an early version of VBA first being included with Access 95.

Although the basic structure remains almost unchanged, in my opinion, it wasn't until Access 97 was released that it became a fully featured, mature application.

The_Doc_Man · Aug 11, 2021

Like Colin, I came from Paradox for Windows. However, I had come from Paradox for DOS before that. I actually liked Paradox for DOS but when they went to Windows, with regard to the event handling and properties exposed, they screwed the pooch. Access let you have meaningful control over just about everything.

conception_native_0123 · Aug 12, 2021

The_Doc_Man said:
I had come from Paradox for DOS before that.

google says that paradox still exists, published by Corel corporation. that true? I still remember Corel Wordperfect - a bad alternative to ms word by microsoft.

The_Doc_Man · Aug 12, 2021

While I agree that Corel owns the rights, I have not actually seen Paradox anywhere that I have looked. (Granted, I wasn't looking for it though.)

My wife prefers WordPerfect and if truth be known, my first "real" word processing on a home computer was WordStar for CPM (and later for Windows). Wifey and I actually put together our own wedding programs via WordStar and a 10$ font disk and a $10 clip-art disk. That was back when I still had a true HP Laserjet printer.

BTW, there are times when I would agree with my wife that WP is superior to MS Word when dealing with multi-file documents. But then again, I just fought MW Word to a standstill over one of my hobbyist novels with 21 components files (intro and 20 chapters). When you want to do Roman numeral page numbering up to a point before starting with "official" page 1, there can be issues due to the INSANE way that Word wants to do section breaks. And let's not talk about user-defined styles. To say that I was yelling, cursing, and screaming about the insanity that is MS Word when dealing with multi-file documents just somehow doesn't cut it. And for that, WP absolutely WAS easier.

Gasman · Aug 12, 2021

WordStar, now that is a blast from the past

I remember using that on a Kaypro portable (luggable) computer.

The_Doc_Man · Aug 12, 2021

For me, an Osborne One, also decidedly luggable. But hey, it got me started and it worked until something better came along.

HillTJ · Aug 16, 2021

Does anyone remember a database product published by Symantec in the 1990's called "Q&A"?. It was a flat file database system that ran on DOS. Worked well in the day & the later versions supported multiple users via wired LAN. Being dos based it ran on all of the mish-mash computers we had in the day. After becomming reasonably proficient with this, we bought a copy of an early release Access, but it was difficult to learn & support was minimal (no internet!). Anyway Q&A was gradually fazed out, but due to a strong userbase was modernized and released by Lantica Software as "Sesame", ran under windows & was relational. Was well supported (now we have internet) and a pretty good product. It sort of died out in the early 2000's. I learn't a lot from those early applications and look back fondly to those times.

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