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I'm reading through the online documentation about Access 2013 (and I hate it even more than 2007 when they removed user level security). It keeps talking about how it uses SQL Server as the back end database. My experience with SQL Server is that the free version is not great and the paid version is extremely expensive.

If I want to use Access 2013 at home, and I want the proper SQL Server, so I have to buy it?

Taryn
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Michael T
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    It ***CAN*** use SQL Server as a back-end database. Oh and also, the free version does not "suck ass," and expensive according to who and compared to what exactly? – Aaron Bertrand Mar 07 '13 at 20:43
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    The "free" (Express) version is one of the more robust "free" versions of major paid RDBMS out there. – swasheck Mar 07 '13 at 20:47
  • How does a question get -8 with no comments about why it is downvoted? – Dan Metheus Mar 07 '13 at 20:52
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    This question does not belong on SO. It should be over on superuser or dba. – Buggabill Mar 07 '13 at 20:54
  • @Dan if we have to explain to you why... also, where is the rule that everyone has to explain their downvote? – Aaron Bertrand Mar 07 '13 at 20:54
  • @AaronBertrand are you having a bad day today? I didn't say everyone had to explain their downvote I was pointing out that no one explained their downvote and the downvote had reached -8. The comment by Buggabill would have been perfect. Now I see people continuing to downvote this question after it has been closed. Geez. – Dan Metheus Mar 07 '13 at 21:05
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    Personally I down voted as it is a terrible question with many personal biases and usually I try not to throw around terms like sucks ass in my question.(unless of course we are talking about GUIDs) Also its not a very informed question. – Zane Mar 07 '13 at 21:06
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    @Dan Geez. No, I am not having a bad day. Every person has the right to up-vote and down-vote as they see fit, and while I used to really hate it when it would go unexplained, I'm now of the mind that they've earned the right to not have to explain it (not the least of which to avoid petty revenge behavior). [Please read this thread](http://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/135/encouraging-people-to-explain-down-votes/) for starters. – Aaron Bertrand Mar 07 '13 at 21:07
  • @Dan also, voting is not restricted to open questions. Just because it has been closed as off-topic does not suddenly make it a good question. Down-votes on questions are often used to discourage users from asking similarly bad questions in the future. And finally, I don't necessarily agree that Buggabill's observation should necessarily mean it is a bad question, just that it is perhaps in the wrong place. Just because it is off-topic doesn't necessarily make it bad (in this case, it was both). – Aaron Bertrand Mar 07 '13 at 21:08
  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGcinyRsmzU – swasheck Mar 07 '13 at 21:10
  • @Zane got it, although when I happened upon the question the "sucks ass" part was already edited out. Also agree that hyperbole isn't useful and also agree, if someone is about to say it, that extending this comment chain should at best be moved to meta and probably just dropped. – Dan Metheus Mar 07 '13 at 21:16
  • That's ok I just wont ask any questions here anymore. All this hostility because you people obviously love SQL Server. I prefer MySQL which is free. I used to love Access but each version they remove critical things. In 2013 you can't even customize forms. You have to choose a template for the data structure. It's like they are making it for dumber and dumber people. And one of the nice things about Access was that it had its own database built in to the mdb file. My company wont give me access to their SQL Server since I'm not MIS. So Access is no longer useful. – Michael T Mar 08 '13 at 21:51
  • Oh and thanks all you who have clever comments but don't bother to actually answer the question. – Michael T Mar 08 '13 at 21:51

3 Answers3

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You can buy SQL Server Developer Edition for somewhere between $40 and $50. Shop around. Developer Edition has all the features of Enterprise Edition, but different licensing terms (e.g. you can't run it in production). Also Express is more than adequate for a lot of small-medium sized applications.

That said, I think you are misreading the documentation. It most certainly says that you CAN use SQL Server as a backend database. There are plenty of Access-based applications out there that don't.

Aaron Bertrand
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  • My company has about 500 client satellites all using express. – Zane Mar 07 '13 at 20:50
  • The documentation I read said it no longer has the Jet database included. You CAN use SQL Server? What is the alternative? My company wont let me use their SQL Server, nor will they let me install something like MySQL. I currently use Access 2003 which has a built in database. Does 2013 have something similar? – Michael T Mar 08 '13 at 21:53
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MS Access 2013 has a new engine called ACE, instead of the Jet engine used in previous versions. There are better integrations as a front end with SQL Server. However, you don't need an actual instance of SQL Server to use it.

http://accessexperts.com/blog/2012/08/20/10-things-we-love-about-access-2013/

Adrian J. Moreno
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If you want to use it at home you can always buy the SQL Server 2012 Developer Edition which has the exact same functionallity as the full version.

The only limitation or difference from Enterprise to Developer is the license. You cannot use Developer in an environment other than development or you are violating your license agreement. Otherwise this functions exactly as Enterprise Edition.

The Dev version can be purchased for under $50 and here is just one link

Dean Kuga
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    I'm not sure why you think Developer Edition only allows one connection. That is absolutely not true. – Aaron Bertrand Mar 07 '13 at 20:49
  • I'm pretty sure there was a limit on the number of connections in earlier versions but I just checked and it looks like you're right so I'll remove that part... – Dean Kuga Mar 07 '13 at 20:53
  • No, there has never been a connection throttle on Developer Edition. Maybe you're thinking of [the workload governor way back in MSDE 2000](http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa224744(v=sql.80).aspx)? Note that the DE stands for Data Engine or Desktop Engine, not Developer Edition. – Aaron Bertrand Mar 07 '13 at 20:58