As far as database management software goes, this is the one to get. Not because it is the best out there, but because it bears the Microsoft label, thus giving it man options and much versatility. This is not to say that it is a poor product, because it actually is a very good product, which says a lot, being that it does come from Microsoft.

The ease of use for this product is overwhelmingly easy, and much thought was put into the different 'wizards' they have set up, which allow you to be able to create fairly complex databases without ever writing any actual code. I would not recommend this, however, as Access 97 has a weird way of doing things a times, which will only complicate things or oversimplify things. It never seems to work just right, therefore I suggest picking up a book on visual basic and write a lot of your own code, which is surprisingly easy to do, if you want to get things just right with your database.

I have not had many problems, but I have had no huge successes as well. This tool seems to be slightly above average. Those of you who have used Filemaker Pro will be tremendously surprised at the robustness of Access, while those of you who use Oracle might be a little disappointed. At any rate, this database software should do the trick for you, whomever you are.

The only real problem that I have with Access 97 is the lack of pre done code to work with. There was a time when I wanted to create a database with pretty good security, but I am finding that I will be having to code all the security myself, as there is apparently no 'wizard' to create a login screen, which surprised me. I feel that there will be a time in every database when you want to protect that data therein and security must be implemented. Microsoft surprised me on this one by not including this.



Recommended: Yes