Microsoft Office Access 2003 Upgrade

the popularity of access is based on several strong features. The interface is clean and uncluttered, and you can open data tables in a familiar spreadsheet-like view. There is a visual query builder, or you can write queries in sql, the standard database query language. Advanced features let you enforce relational integrity between tables and set validation constraints on fields. There is also an excellent report designer. The access database engine is not suitable for very large databases, but you can scale up by switching to microsoft's sql server or an odbc database while still using the same visual tools. New in office access 2003 is automatic error-checking in forms, integrated support for transforming data with xsl (an xml standard), and the ability to link to lists in sharepoint services as a convenient way to share data. A small but welcome detail is control over the font used in the sql editor, which was fixed at a small size in earlier versions.

this is a capable product and generally a pleasure to use. The main gripe against it is that even microsoft's wizards do not make relational database applications easy to build. filemaker is better for non-specialists, but office access 2003 wins on office integration and more comprehensive features. --tim anderson