A trip down memory lane

[The_Doc_Man]

Got to admit I remember seeing something about Q&A during my earlier days with the U.S. Navy (which started in 1988). We considered it when it came out but chose something else instead. Access eventually won out because of its ability to integrate with other parts of Office.

 

[Catalina]

I started with Access 97 but long before that I toyed with dBase III & IV.

 

[JMongi]

What a great morning find. Thanks for posting Colin! I'm certain I launched Access on DOS 6.2.2 on my grandfather's IBM PS/2 but I didn't have one clue what a database program was at the time. Not sure what version that would have been. Learned A97 a bit when it came out in the middle of my college days and my first engineering job used A97 to track their engineering change notices. Insert a big long gap and now I'm into it neck deep in O365 version at my current engineering job.

Maybe its just me but I still think the old Access "Key" icon is snazzy.

 

[isladogs]

There were various DOS based databases around long before Access was released in 1992.
However from version 1.0 onwards, Access was only ever a Windows application.

In versions 1.0, 1.1 & 2.0, the programming language was Access Basic with an early version of VBA first added in Access 95
Access 97 was a large leap forwards and many developers consider it to be the first mature version.
By then VBA included many of the features we know & use today

 

[arnelgp]

However from version 1.0 onwards, Access was only ever a Windows application.

No, Access was a never heard in my community.
We use Foxpro 9 (for windows).

Microsoft bought the product, not to further develop it, but to
assasinate it.

 

[JMongi]

However from version 1.0 onwards, Access was only ever a Windows application.

Right you are as usual! The fully correct memory is that the PS/2 when I was using it had Windows 3.1 running as it did on top of MS-DOS 6.22.

isladogs said:
However from version 1.0 onwards, Access was only ever a Windows application.

No, Access was a never heard in my community.
We use Foxpro 9 (for windows).

Microsoft bought the product, not to further develop it, but to
assasinate it.

I think Colin meant that Access has always been a Windows based software product (not DOS as I implied); not that Access was the only database product for Windows.

 

[NauticalGent]

Microsoft bought the product, not to further develop it, but to
assasinate it.

And use it's superior search engine (Rushmore) - good lord it was FAST! Faster that anything else on the market at the time. MS was wise to buy it and then kill it.

 

[isladogs]

I think Colin meant that Access has always been a Windows based software product (not DOS as I implied); not that Access was the only database product for Windows.

That is indeed exactly what I meant.
Before I ever tried Access, I used Paradox for Windows. I certainly don't miss that program!

 

[NauticalGent]

I certainly don't miss that program!

Amen. I cut my teeth with PDox 3.0 for DOS and loved it. When they made the jump to windows my need to use a DB was gone and I took a 12 year hiatus from DBs. When I returned (2008), the landscape had completely changed and Access stood alone at the top.

 

[arnelgp]

there is a new DBase 2019.
dBase, LLC. – The Official Home of dBASE™

 

[jdraw]

Just stumbled onto this resurrected thread. I do remember Q&A, dBase3,4 and some Foxpro and VisiCalc. A program that we used, that seems to have disappeared completely, was Timeline ( a great project management, resource management, task assignment tool). I remember Dec Datatrieve and recall using EasyTrieve on the IBM 360 (service bureau). We did a lot of work with DEC (RSTSE, RSX11D, then VAX) - mainly COBOL and Macro11. Jeez 50 years goes by fast!

 

[alphonseg]

Ah, the good old days . I started with a DOS spreadsheet called Lucid 3D (was even a Beta tester for it), moved to DOS database DataEase. Then Access 1.0. Access 2.0 with Rushmore was something else. All my queries slowed to a crawl. Had to rewrite nearly all of them.

 

[HillTJ]

Ah, the good old days . I started with a DOS spreadsheet called Lucid 3D (was even a Beta tester for it), moved to DOS database DataEase. Then Access 1.0. Access 2.0 with Rushmore was something else. All my queries slowed to a crawl. Had to rewrite nearly all of them.

Who remembers early lotus123 way before excel. You had to save your spreadsheet, then open up the 'print application to plot graphs & print!.

I was the envy of many when I bought a Commodore 128 with 80 column screen & 16 colours! I also bought a software suite (who's name escapes me) that included a word processor, spreadsheet & some basic database. Worked really well in the day. Used to save my data on a 5" floppy too & had to load the operating system from a floppy each start up.

 

[bob fitz]

Who remembers early lotus123 way before excel. You had to save your spreadsheet, then open up the 'print application to plot graphs & print!.

I was the envy of many when I bought a Commodore 128 with 80 column screen & 16 colours! I also bought a software suite (who's name escapes me) that included a word processor, spreadsheet & some basic database. Worked really well in the day. Used to save my data on a 5" floppy too & had to load the operating system from a floppy each start up.

Might that have been called Ability+

 

[Gasman]

I can remember Microsoft Multiplan (before Excel) and around the same time as Lotus 123.

One place I worked, we had a report system using Multiplan, that worked solely on entering data into weekly sheets, and then just by loading sheets in a particular sequence, calculated MTD,YTD,QTD figures.

The Burroughs kit we used, was one of the first computers that would network easily (up to 5?) and had a nifty keystroke program on it, so if your computer crashed, you could start it back up, run keystrokes since the last save, and see all the data coming back to you.

 

[NauticalGent]

I also bought a software suite (who's name escapes me) that included a word processor, spreadsheet & some basic database.

I guessing Enable? It was all the rage in the late '80s

 

[bob fitz]

I guessing Enable? It was all the rage in the late '80s

Was that made for the Commodore 128

 

[NauticalGent]

Was that made for the Commodore 128

Probably not! I missed the part of the equation...

 

[HillTJ]

I remember it was something to do with 'swift' i recall. I'll recall it in a few weeks, after everyone's lost intetest!!

 

[Gasman]

They even had that Multiplan for the Commodore?

https://www.c64-wiki.com/wiki/Spreadsheet