Ian Massi (7/17/2014)
I like it when users create something sensible that works decently in Access and then they come to our team to say, "We need to build an application like this one, but it needs _____". It's like a full requirement documents in a single file. It's beautiful in that way. Just don't ask me to do the improvements in Access itself, then the disdain comes out.
This is very much how I view Access these days. It allows users to do more than Excel could and often they can solve their own problems. Sure, some of the solutions may be duct tape and bailing wire. At the small scale most of the projects exist, it is enough to be better than the manual method they replace.
When the problem *does* exceed their grasp (or Access), the partially implemented solution may cause some internal head shaking. Still, it is far more productive to take what they *did* achieve, along with the list of things they still need and get to work in Visual Studio + SQL Server.
I find that clients that have used Access are *far* more appreciative and understanding than those who come from nothing, because the pain points they reach allow them some understanding of the complexity of software.