Let me copy below some of the key points about Access made in the link the prior author included, restated here. I put my comments below in {...} so you can tell my thoughts from quotes from the two articles:
Access info
It’s an easy-to-use database system for desktops and workgroups with fairly simple database needs.
Access is extremely powerful.....thousands of applications have been written specifically for use in Access
A number of strengths make Access a good choice for developing database applications in its own right:
The report writer is very strong, probably the strongest part of Access.
.......
With its form-oriented GUI and multiple wizards, Access is designed to make developing a database as easy and painless as possible, even for non-programmers. By contrast, SQL Server is designed from the ground up as a full-bore DBMS, and its design stresses power over ease of use.
NOTE
For some persuasive arguments on why Access is "right sized" for a lot of jobs, read the white paper "Database Evolution: Microsoft Access Within an Organization’s Database Strategy" by Luke Chung, president of FMS, Inc., a developer of Access programming tools.
Access is just about everywhere in the Windows world. As part of the Microsoft Office suite, Access is available on nearly every Windows desktop. Developers who need broad distribution for a database application often choose Access for exactly that reason.
Features aside, Access is limited in two main areas:
Scalability. Access doesn’t handle very large databases easily. Generally speaking, the larger the database, the more carefully the Access application has to be designed.
Networking. Although Access is a multiuser database with built-in record locking and other transactional features, it doesn’t work well over a network.
{Above I asssuume the author meant over a wide area network. If so I agree. However, over a 10/100 mbps LAN it works quite well, as my clients will attest.}
In general, if your application will have more than a few simultaneous users, you’re better off developing it in SQL Server than in Access.
{The above may be true mostly depending on the design of the access application. I have 15 users working quite well with one of my Access applications}
Unless you value your time at just about nothing, or you want to gain experience with Access, it makes more sense to buy an application rather than write it in Access.
{By the way, the first web link, repeated above, has in it a link to another article worth reading.}
2nd article
The success of Access as the most popular database in the world is a testiment to its capabilities and the pervausive need for database solutions by productivity workers.
Access offers an excellent solution for database challenges facing individuals, small teams and work groups across a network.
The number of simultaneous users Jet {the database component of Access} can support depends on what is being done. We generally consider 50 to be a reasonable number...
{I quote the above and state my perspective from 30 years in the computer business working for large corporations and large consulting firms. I have worked with several mainframe databases, databases on midrange computers as well as PCs and networks. Each has its strengths and weaknesses. None can be considered as the BEST especially when you consider price and ease of use.}
{Now I am quite sure that the other poster and I will likely never agree, so perhaps we can agree to disagree. Whomever reads this thread hopefully will gain insight into the appropriateness of Access as a datbase from the comments of the posters and the articles referenced.}
{If anyone has specific questions about Access, please feel free to post in a new thread or contact me directly.}
Bob
P.S. I wonder what was the purpose of the TechSoup staffer who started this thread?