At Mon, 24 Jan 2005 09:55:13 +0200, Danny Lieberman wrote: > > Tazahi > > I've been following this thread and I wanted to shed a different light: > > I'm not a Microsoft advocate but lets get the facts straight: > > a. MS Access developer is free in Office > b. The Academic licenses for Office are about 30% of the commercial MOLP > which is about 20% of the single unit list price - so it costs peanuts > for the Technion to develop in MS Access > c. MS Access runtime (Jet) is free for unlimited distribution > d. You can use PHP on a Windows server to access the MDB database by > ODBC since there is no limitation to using an MDB in a runtime server > > Second of all, with all due respect - this sort of smacks of "i'll bite > off my nose to spite my face" (We dont use Access because ... ) > > MS Access is a widely used tool,and when your students go out looking > for work they'll have a much better shot at a job with Access than with > Ruby.
Forgive me if I am way off course here as I have not seen what the OP wrote and I'm not much into databases, but couldn't mysql do the job? I think that there are access like interface. IIRC OO has a database in the non-free version. mysqlcc allows gui interface to mysql databases. there is mdbtools (mdbtools.sourceforge.net) that allows accessing access files, don't know how good it is. It seems like gnumeric can do something similar to access using the GDA plugin or mergeant for database administration for gnome. KDE has knoda which may do what you want. Hope it helps. > Think of it like this - it's a tool and engineering schools like the > Technion are supposed to teach you to find & use tools. If the best > tool for this job is a pocket knife thats the tool > I would expect a Technion grad to use. > > ;-) > > danny > > > Tzahi Fadida wrote: > > >>...On Behalf Of Oded Arbel > >> > >>Tzahi Fadida wrote: > >> > >> > >> > >>>There are several free open-source projects on the web, however from > >>>the looks of it none are comparable to ms access. > >>> > >>><snip> > >>> > >>>Important requirements for the pro bono project: > >>>the tools Must be Free and not only Open Source. > >>>Hebrew interface, hebrew db support. > >>>MUST run also on a winbox. > >>> > >>> > >>> > >>> > >>Why the requirement to be free (as in beer) ? last time I checked, > >>MS-Access was not free (in either meaning) and to compete > >>with that an > >>open source product only has to give you more value for > >>money, not more > >>value for no money... > >> > >> > > > >You misunderstood me, I don't intend to use ms-access because its > >not free and because one of the new requirement we gave the students > >of the ie faculty at the technion is that they can't use ms-access for > >yearly projects.(or asp starting a semester or two. :) > >The main problem is that the particular gov office is under funded and > >it requested from us to do at least part of the job. > >If it had money, they would have taken an outside contractor. > >There is a legacy ms-access local mdb there that will have to be > >ported (probably using mdb-tools, but its not really important). > >We also want to centrelize all the data feeds into one system > >so it will require us to be able to reach they system from > >all workstations, meaning more access licenses so we striked that > >out right away. > > > > > > > >>If the alternatives are MS-Access or a competing open source product > >>then I do suggest Rekall from The Kompany which is licensed under the > >>GPL but the vendor will only supply binary packages for > >>MS-Windows for a > >>license fee (one can still download the source and build it. Linux > >>binaries as available for free from several sources, some > >>distros even > >>bundle them). > >>Rekall offers MS-Access like form design and supports scripting in > >>python (which is not as good as Ruby but will do ;-). > >> > >> > > > >again, no money. > >I know rekall but they also have legacy word, dos, windows and > >there is little chance of convincing them to move to linux on most > >workstations. > > > > > > > >>I think you need to prioritize - which requirement is more important: > >>'available for no charge' or 'MS-Access feature > >>completeness'. I don't > >> > >> > > > >no charge since otherwise there is no project. > > > > > > > >>think they coincide currently (at least until Kexi is stable, which > >>would take some time), and as a result, if the former is more > >>important > >>then I suggest you drop the other requirement and teach your > >>students to > >>program using some kind of easy scripting language. Ruby is a > >>good idea, > >>but also PHP. > >> > >> > > > >I meant that I plan to use both. since we will also need some > >middle tier logic and maybe some fancy gui additions. > >Are there alternatives to ruby rails? btw, I don't consider > >php an alternative at the same level, maybe to ruby but > >not to ruby rails which is all about > >"less software and convention over configuration" > >i.e. they don't have to know the programming underlayers > >just create xml like files and fancy htmls. > >http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/onlamp/2005/01/20/rails.html?page=1 > > > >Does anyone have experience with rails and can share? > > > > > > > >>-- > >>Oded > >> > >>::.. > >>Excuses are the easiest things to manufacture, and the > >>hardest things to sell. > >> > >> > >>================================================================= > >>To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >>with the word "unsubscribe" in the message body, e.g., run > >>the command echo unsubscribe | mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > > > > > > > >================================================================= > >To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with > >the word "unsubscribe" in the message body, e.g., run the command > >echo unsubscribe | mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > > > > > > > > > -- > Danny Lieberman > Visit us at http://www.software.co.il > Office + 972 8 970-1485 > Cell + 972 54 447-1114 > > > > ================================================================= > To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with > the word "unsubscribe" in the message body, e.g., run the command > echo unsubscribe | mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ > This Mail Was Scanned By Mail-seCure System > at the Tel-Aviv University CC. > ================================================================= To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word "unsubscribe" in the message body, e.g., run the command echo unsubscribe | mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
