Andy touched on one of the biggest problems with Access, the frequent need to compact/repair. Someone else also mentioned that it's limited in how many concurrent users it can handle. As a front end to a real database (I've worked with that setup at a number of companies), it's easy to use and generate simple forms and reports. But many people don't understand the inner workings of it, and don't use things like pass through queries, so that the database engine does the work it's supposed to do and only sends Access what it needs. Having "grown up" in a similar environment (my first job out of college in 94 was in FoxPro 2.0/2.5 for DOS), Access always seemed to me like the other product that never quite measured up. FoxPro's fate was sealed though when Microsoft bought them out. I don't hate Access, I just know it gets misused a lot.