On Tue, 27 Apr 1999, Dan Nelson wrote:
> In the last episode (Apr 27), Patrick Greenwell said:
> > If that is the desire, then it is necessary to make it attractive to
> > the demographic. People using Access are doing so for ease of use
> > reasons, not because Access is the fastest, most stable DB on the
> > planet(it certainly isn't.) MySQL by comparison is not as easy to
> > use, doesn't have a GUI anywhere near the one offered with Access,
> > etc. So, if you want people to switch, better get working on a really
> > nice GUI.... ;-)
>
> Aah, but people using Access for ease of use reasons tend to outgrow
> the Jet database engine first, and it's a cinch to take an existing
> Access .MDB, export the tables to MySQL, and link the tables. The
> users of the app don't know the differnece, since the UI hasn't
> changed. It just magically got faster :)
When engaged in these sorts of discussion, I find it valuable to attempt
to comprehend the worldview of the user being discussed. That it is easy
for you to make the conversion is not at issue. What is at issue is the
ability of the "average Access user" to do so. This requires that they
have a reasonable amount of technical skill and some level of proficency
with both Access and MySQL. It is not a skillset I would ascribe to the
"average Access user."
Again if the desire is to get a great number of Access users to convert,
you will have to offer either a toolset that makes the migration to/use of
MySQL as simple as their use of Access and/or an extremely compelling
reason to switch. Not compelling to you or I, we're already sold, but *to
them*.
