Jun 01

Published on Enterprise Features: Microsoft Access Is Underrated–Your Hatred of Access Is Largely Unjustified

Microsoft AccessThe Enterprise Features web site highlight’s FMS President Luke Chung’s discussion about why Microsoft Access is underrated and hated in large enterprise organizations. “Haters Gonna Hate”.

He discusses the dynamics of IT departments in large organizations and their natural conflict with the needs and budgets of information worker. Enterprise FeaturesHe also shows how organizations that understand the strengths and weaknesses of Microsoft Access can leverage its power for competitive advantage, and how to structure service levels to do so.

Mar 30

Using Terminal Services and RemoteApp to Extend Your Microsoft Access and other Windows Applications Over the Internet

Terminal Services RemoteApp and Microsoft AccessRead our new paper on using Terminal Services and RemoteApp to Extend Microsoft Access and Other Windows Applications Over the Internet.

One of the features of Microsoft Windows Server that is increasingly popular over the last few years is the Terminal Server and more recently RemoteApp. With few exceptions, most Windows applications work within a Terminal Server environment. By doing so, your investment in existing applications, and the power of Windows desktop features and interoperability, can be exposed over the Internet.

This is particularly powerful for database applications such as Microsoft Access since it eliminates the need to send large amounts of data over the Internet for Access to process and users do not need to install Access on their machine. With RemoteApp, you can set up a terminal server experience where your users can only run your application without running other applications or browsing your network. Easily web enable all your desktop applications.

Jan 27

Considering Cloud Computing with Microsoft Azure?


The Microsoft Azure platform is now available for production use!

We’ve been using Azure over the past year for web/asp.net hosting and SQL Server solutions. We have been very impressed with its features and capabilties. We believe it will revolutionize how we create and deploy applications, and look forward to providing commercial and custom solutions and services with Azure.

We’re already working on several projects including the merging of the Windows desktop/Microsoft Access/Office with the web. We look forward to sharing more with you in the near future.

What do you think about Azure and cloud computing?

Jan 15

Total Visual SourceBook 2007 Ships for Microsoft Access, Office, and Visual Basic 6

Microsoft Access ModulesTotal Visual SourceBookMicrosoft Access Modules

Total Visual SourceBook, the most popular professional source code library for Microsoft Access, Office and Visual Basic 6 is shipping with an expanded code base and improved code manager. With 194 modules/classes and over 100,000 lines of code, Total Visual SourceBook lets you add our well written, documented, and tested code into your VBA/VB6 projects royalty-free. Includes full support for Access 2007, lots of new code for Outlook 2007, Office 2007, the web, etc. Learn more about Total Visual SourceBook and why so many developers use and learn from our years of experience creating professional quality solutions.

Jul 27

Adding Commonly-used Command Buttons to the Office 2007 Quick Access Toolbar

In Microsoft Office 2007 programs (Access, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.) the Quick Access toolbar in the upper left corner offers shortcuts to several commonly-used toolbar buttons or commands. By default, it just shows Save, Undo, and Redo. However, you can customize this to add commands that you use often.

Jul 27

Collapsing the Office 2007 Ribbon to get more space in your program

When moving from earlier versions of Microsoft Office programs (Access, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook) to Office 2007, the new Ribbon can be very difficult to get used to. One common complaint is that it takes up so much space. However, did you know that the ribbon can be easily collapsed to give you extra vertical space?

Jun 10

Video: Migrating Your Data Tier to SQL Server: Strategies for Survival

I participated on this panel at the Microsoft TechEd Conference to explore Panel Discussion on Migrating Data to SQL Serverthe different reasons and approaches for migrating applications to Microsoft SQL Server. In addition to moving the data to SQL Server, ideas are presented for transforming applications to offer additional features while maintaining budgets. (43 minutes)

Jun 03

Video: The World Turned Upside Down: Development Strategies for Lean Times

Worried about your job or career?  Uncertain about what to do to protect your future? 

Watch this video from my panel discussion at the Microsoft TechEd Conference. Hear me share my experiences at FMS with fiver other developers, and different ways we’ve survived over our careers. Entitled The World Turned Upside Down: Development Strategies for Lean Times, the video is 51 minutes.

Dec 31

Security Patch for Excel Prevents Pasting into Access Tables

If you're used to pasting Excel spreadsheet data into an Access table, you may have encountered this error recently: The data on the Clipboard is damaged, so Microsoft Office Access can't paste it.  Maybe you thought there was something wrong with your spreadsheet, data, or memory. It turns out this is caused by a Microsoft Excel 2007 security patch that was released December 9th. Click on the link to learn about the issue and a workaround.

Dec 03

White Paper: Application Development During Uncertain Times

The economy and financial markets are undergoing tremendous turmoil as this massive deleveraging unfolds. In response to discussions with our customers and the wider community, I published an article for things to consider when developing software applications during these challenging times. Minimize risk and maximize your potential by getting solutions into production quickly and let the market (users) decide what survives and dies. Application evolution and natural selection is most powerful during times like these. It's important to anticipate rather than be surprised by those forces. For more details, check out the paper (http://www.fmsinc.com/tpapers/budgets/ApplicationDev) which is referenced by Microsoft and other sites.

Wishing you the best and much success!