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Writer's pictureKarl Donaubauer

1st Birthday of AccessForever.org

Updated: Dec 17, 2023


PARTY!

Exactly 1 year ago, after some preparatory work, I published the first articles here. The aim was to improve the information about Access, particularly in terms of bugs, new features and inputs on versions, availability or events. Microsoft has traditionally neglected this "organizational" aspect of communication even more than the purely technical one.


The most urgent was information about update bugs, because nothing is worse for Access users, and especially developers, than when their applications suddenly and "without reason" have major problems, leaving them alone without any information.


It was clear to me from the start that I didn't want to do this work alone, but together with a few other experienced colleagues. Over the past year, we have expanded the AFo team to this group of six people:



Not everyone writes a lot here, but we discuss a lot before articles are published and all contribute their knowledge and opinion. This teamwork improves the variety of topics and quality enormously.


As current or former Access MVPs, we have direct contacts to Microsoft and can provide information in both directions. We inform Microsoft about newly emerging bugs and their details, which are reported in forums etc. and try to speed up the fixing of bugs with repro scenarios and contact referrals. We succeeded in doing this several times in the first year. Thanks to all members of the Access community who have helped us in this venture!


The Access team at Microsoft supports us in both areas, bugs and features, as you can see from bug information, workarounds, dates for upcoming fixes or release dates for new features, which we are often the first to report. We are happy for others to use the information we provide. After all, our aim is to disseminate useful information about Access.


Where our almost 28000 article views came from in the first year.

So far we have published 44 blog posts in these 5 categories:


Bugs 16

Findings 11

Features 7

Events 7

Tools 3


As you can see, there are categories with fewer articles. The tools category in particular remains an open task, as its primary reason is to support a tools/package manager initiative for Access, which is making only slow progress, mainly due to a lack of time. We'll see if this improves in the new year.


All in all, I think what we have achieved in the first year is ok. Please use the comments section to let us know what you think about the site, including any suggestions for improvements.

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6 Comments


Xavier Batlle
Xavier Batlle
Dec 17, 2023

Good job! Thanks a lot. 😉

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dick
Dec 13, 2023

Very good idea Karl. I would love to be part of this as a subscriber or maybe even a contributor ?


Dick Moffat

dick@plogic.ca

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Karl Donaubauer
Karl Donaubauer
Dec 15, 2023
Replying to

Hi Dick,


Yes, I have to make subscription here easier, otherwise this will never be a mass success. ;-) Since you logged in for the comment, you are already a "member" on the site. You can use your member account settings to control whether you are notified of new posts, as well as a few other things.


The team of authors is complete for now with six people who have to coordinate with each other etc. However, you are welcome to discuss a guest contribution if you have a fitting topic. You can contact me e.g. via the email address you can find with the data protection link at the bottom of this page or via LinkedIn.

Edited
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LEONARDO SASSO
LEONARDO SASSO
Dec 11, 2023

Thank you all for the commendable work you do that allows us programmers in Ms Access, who have believed in and realised dozens of projects for companies in every corner of the world, to continue to update and keep alive a work environment that is so beautiful and that allows us to take a lot of satisfaction both professionally and financially. And you are the best example of how great and stubborn our community still is.

Perhaps the best product released by Microsoft is as powerful as it is underrated and unjustifiably denigrated.

I would like to take this opportunity to wish you and your families a Merry Christmas and beautiful 2024.

Leonardo Sasso


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Richard Rost
Richard Rost
Dec 11, 2023

I think you're doing a great job and are an excellent resource! Thanks for all you do.

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Colin Riddington
Colin Riddington
Dec 11, 2023
Replying to

Thanks on behalf of the group for your very positive feedback. Personally I think Karl is being too modest about what the group has achieved. I know I'm biased in my opinion but, if I had been the author, I would have written:

Overall, I think what we have achieved a lot in our first year but want to do even better in the future.

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