What Does Access Have That Other RDMS Do Not?

[ChloeRadshaw]

I just want to make sure I understand the 'power' of Access databases.

Can anyone explain what Access has that other databases do not?

I am guessing it is the report generation capability but could we not use Excel for reporting and a database for storing data.

I should point out that I come from a Sybase / MySql background..

[Bob Phillips]

I too come from a Sybase background and I admit to very rarely using the Access front-end functionality. As You say, I usually pull the data into Excel where I can pivot it, tabulate it, chart it etc., in a much nicer way than Access can handle IMO.

The advantage of Access is in abstracting the data (the DB) from the logic and the presentational layers, and doing that and storing the data in an Access mdb does not even require the user to have an Access license.

But with free SQL Server, it is debatable whether it is even worth using Access ... IMO.

[Movian]

i may be off the mark here, but i often see people stating that it can be much faster to develop a system in access than from scratch in something like PHP & MysQL (I'm not familiar with Sybase so can't comment) But i have found that it can be much quicker to develop in Access than in other systems.