14 year old software

Yesterday, I started to forgive Zoho Creator for some of its faults and was willing to give it another try. I had done web search after web search looking for a free database alternative, and come up with nothing. The only thing vaguely promising was OpenOffice Base, but it wouldn't download properly on my computer and it looked difficult to install.

However, after having given Zoho Creator many more hours, I am once again feeling like throwing in the towel. It just doesn't live up to its promises. It isn't a full featured database, and it is riddled with bugs. I'd find myself staring at the screen aggravated that I couldn't do something in Zoho Creator that would have been a snap in Microsoft Access 2.0.

I first started using MS Access 2.0 at a summer office job as an office clerk back in 1995 (14 years ago!). I liked it so much that the next school year, I took a computer science class in databases. I liked it so much that when I had to buy Office for a new computer, I got the edition with Access.

Then, on a whim, I started digging through my old CDs of computer software. There it was. Installation CDs for Microsoft Office 95, including Access. I crossed my fingers and stuck the CD in the drive. Would 14 year old software run on my computer? If it would, I know that it would do everything I wanted in a database.

But, alas, it was not to be. It installed fine, but when I went to start it, there was a nasty out of memory error message and Access refused to start. Another quick web search showed that it was a known issue and the only resolution was to upgrade. So much for 14 year old software. Sigh.