History of Microsoft Access

Microsoft Access is a relational database management system developed by Microsoft and is part of the Microsoft Office suite. In November 1992, Microsoft launched The Microsoft Access version 1.0.  Then in May 1993 they launched a newer version Access1.1 which had an improved compatibility with the other products of Microsoft. Later they introduced the Access v2.0 which required MS Windows v3.1 having 4MB RAM space and 8MB space on the hard disk.

This software showed good results with relatively simple and small databases but in certain cases it caused data corruption and data loss. As the Windows95, 98 and ME became obsolete and newer improved versions came into market, the Access database system was also modified for better workability.  With the introduction of MS Office 95, MS Access95 also joined the MS Office Professional Suite along with Excel, Word and PowerPoint. With improvement in technology over the years, Microsoft Office programs were also modified and so did the MS Access. The consecutive release of modified versions includes Access 97, Access 2000, Access 2002, Access 2003 and Access 2007.

Microsoft introduced a new database format in the final Access version, that is the MS Access 2007.this new format was is called the ACCDB and supports data types of high complexity, for example multivalue and attachment field. In this new field type, user can store more than one value in a single field. Before the introduction of MS Access into the market, ‘Paradox and dBase programs’ of Borland and FoxPro dominates the market. For Windows, the first mass market database software was the MS Access. Microsoft soon bought FoxPro and used its Rushmore query optimization routines in Access. After this the MS Access effectively eliminates its competitors from the market and became the dominating power in the database market for Windows.

MS Access stores data in its own format and can also link or import data stored in other Access databases, Share Point lists, Excel, XML, Outlook, Oracle, etc. it can be used to develop complex application software by the data architects and software developers and the non programmers can build simple applications using it. Like other MS Office applications, Access also uses the object oriented language called the VBA (Visual Basic for applications). Today, Microsoft Access finds great use in various work fields from developing simple databases to highly complicated ones and is one of the most widely used MS Office Applications.