Comments on: Dump Microsoft Access, Get Kexi

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By: hedley

hedley — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I would have thought that an article about a database app for Linux that compares itself to Access might make some reference to the database app that comes with Open Office, and why Kexi is or is not better. Without such a reference, I consider this article incomplete and insufficiently informative.

By: spikyjt

spikyjt — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I couldn’t agree more with the above comment. Whilst I think KOffice is a great addition to the open source world, it is significantly behind OpenOffice.org in terms of development status. Kexi is particular lacking in features compared to OpenOffice Base, even though, like the rest of KOffice, it has an excellent user interface. Kexi is not ready for serious production/business use, whilst OpenOffice Base clearly is, due to its ability to connect to almost any database and its easy integration with the rest of the OpenOffice.org suite. I’m sure KOffice will get there eventually though. Hopefully by then, no one remember what MS Access is!

By: kzutter

kzutter — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

How can you say “Dump Microsoft Access, Get Kexi” and “…really doesnâ€™t deliver on the â€œMicrosoft Access for Linuxâ€ in the same article????

And question to spikyjt: Why hope that no one remembers MS Access?

By: captainc

captainc — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I have found Open Office Base to degrade very badly in performance for large data tables; it’s quite unfortunate. PGAdmin and web-based tools like phppgadmin are much more up to the task. Other database visualization tools that can reverse engineer the database and present ER diagrams are much more useful.

By: semenhyia

semenhyia — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

i don’t know about kexi nor have i used it extensively but OOo3.0 ‘s base rocks. i will stick to open office for now

By: vekaz

vekaz — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

You call this a serious article? :s

By: jrickard

jrickard — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

The heart of Linux application software all embodied in a single article.

1 Religion. No Linux head can even write an article without some booing and hissing about Microsoft. DUMP MICROSOFT ACCESS.

2. Followed by a glowing description of a program undoubtedly BETTER than Microsoft Access.

3. Followed by alist of all the things broken in the usual Linux app written by 19 year-old poser wunderkinds with compilers that will probably never write an app that actually works before moving on to the next thing to occur to them to do.

Once again, a great idea for a program. I'd love an Access look-alike that just acted as a front end to MySQL - a GUI report designer etc. But this isn't one.

With the potential for profit removed from software, you get mostly broken software, incompleted projects, abandoned projects, etc.

I would hope Linux Journal would eschew sensational headlines to sell magazines, without some editorial oversite to make sure the article delivers on it. Articles about software that doesn't work, implies that there are no GOOD programs out there to write about. Is this true?

By: jaikzelf

jaikzelf — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

If Microsoft is so wonderful why does one have to defend it anything that good should stand on its own without comment?
Ever had to deal with a corrupted access database and even after paying a lot of money to experts had to conclude that in the end it didn’t got resolved ?
Than you might understand why people who did pay huge for the Microsoft product that did not deliver start looking for an alternative.
Microsoft never had customer service in the first place, just money making was.

By: foobarbaz

foobarbaz — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Microsoft Access is awful. Of course you should dump it – if you’ve got the skills to use Linux you’ve already moved to something easier like postgresql and python tkinter, or .NET and MSDE. Access is designed for middle managers whose computer skills extend to copy paste and building pivot tables in excel, and who want to learn to hack together a receivables database.

JRickard – either you don’t use Access or you don’t remember what an uncooperative bitch it is to get started with. Microsoft has put JET in “maintenance mode” which tells you how much confidence they have in it. The reason why people complain about Microsoft is because they don’t do anything well anymore, and we are forced to use their crumbling infrastructure, or one of their 3 incompatible .net versions. And please don’t whine about people dissing Microsoft when you are ready to insult the author of an opensource project as a poser – it makes you sound like a total c u n t.

By: foobarbaz

foobarbaz — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Sorry – didn’t mean to post that was just playing around. And I was wrong – that wasn’t what u were saying. I am a bad person.

By: mvirard

mvirard — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Because I found OO Base lacking, I gave Kexi a try … and it failed. From an XP client, I attempted to open a MySQL 4 database (a Koha 2.2.9 DB) on a Debian Linux server. It could not interpret about 5% of the Koha tables.

End of test.

By: bcspratt

bcspratt — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Hi Ken,

Thanks for the article, I liked it. I had not really heard about kexi and it is nice to know open source is addressing the MS Access market. Knowledge is power, and if enough developers get interested in kexi the community will continue to polish it till we get it right. It might even be better than MS Access.

By: marytee

marytee — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I thought the article was little confusing in its original premise: Dump Access for Kexi, because at the end, Ken Hess talks of the significant shortcomings of Kexi. Despite eschewing nearly all things Microsoft in my personal life, I still use Access to create small apps for non-profits, etc. Neither Kexi or its OpenOffice counterpart, Base, have Access’s robustness. I’ve donated to the OpenOffice project in the past. Perhaps I should throw a little more cash at it to move Base along.

By: wizkid

wizkid — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

When I saw the headline “Dump Microsoft Access, Get Kexi”, I got really excited. The excitement didn’t last long …

What a dumb article!

By: mirv

mirv — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I use Gnome Edit for web database development (PHP/MySQL) having long since abandoned Microsoft Access as my principal database hobby. I also develop my own custom (task-specific) database engines using Borland Delphi. However, one thing that Microsoft Access has always had going for it is that it allows me to develop simple solutions quickly and with little fuss. There’s a point at which an Access application becomes a pain in the butt, but I’m yet to come across an open source package that re-creates that bridge from a simple problem to simple solution, and there will always be lots of simple problems that only need simple solutions that Access is well suited to. Linux has had plenty going for it in the big end of town for a long time, but it’s nice to come across a project like Kexi that seems to be targeting the KISS principle in the traditionally geeky Linux world. I’m not really on the band-wagon of trying to get the world to abandon Microsoft in favour of open source, but for those who are, most of the world currently (for better or worse) uses Microsoft products so that is what they know (there is no point arguing about whether it should be that way – it just is), so if you want to win them over, you must (for better or worse) make your programs feel like Microsoft equivalents. Microsoft dominates because it has marketing experts selling its software and they target what most users care about; aesthetics and user-friendliness. If you achieve this, then your product is competitive. Even if Kexi becomes a drop-in replacement for Microsoft Access, trying to sell it on its technical merits is a waste of time because most end-users and managers don’t understand and don’t care (most wouldn’t have even heard of linux-mag.com so they wouldn’t have read this article). When Kexi is easy to use, looks cool and is cheaper than Access, then sell it based on that, using media that average people are exposed to (not Linux forums and magazines). As long as the software works most of the time, it doesn’t have to be technically perfect. Microsoft products never are and companies fork out big bucks for them.

By: grabur

grabur — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

@mirv agree.

It's pretty sad that there isn't a free desktop db app that rivals access in 2010. I've been involved in relatively large projects using MS Access. If it worked as you'd expect it would be fantastic.

Microsoft were lucky to plug this niche early (even if it has warts.)

I've been seeking a drop in replacement for Access for a long time. And looked at OOo longingly. But the last time I tried it (pre version 3) it still wasn't fit for purpose. I tried Kexi in it's previous life, and it was promising, I can't remember the name of it then.

I also think you have to be really careful labelling a product an MS office replacement if it also isn't fit for purpose.

I dread opening OOo. I tout it as an office replacement, and always say, 'it's not as good as MS office, but at least it's free.' Now we have the farce of OOo being forked, I only hope it helps.

I think there is still a dearth of fine linux SMB desktop apps. I'd pay £50 for MS office any day of the week if I could run it on Linux. And I'm an MS hater!

By: grabur

grabur — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Getting back to the article. It was poorly titled. Pathetic and sensational, which appears to be an ongoing trend for linux-mag.

I appreciate the author's honest appraisal of the software. Told me what I wanted to know: Is Kexi a drop in replacement for MS Access? No, not yet, but watch this space.