Database Information
History of Microsoft Access Database Software
Prior to the introduction of Access, Borland and FoxPro dominated the desktop database market. Microsoft Access was the first mass-market database program for Windows. With Microsoft's purchase of FoxPro in 1992 and the incorporation of Fox's Rushmore query optimisation routines into Access, Microsoft Access quickly became the dominant database for Windows - effectively eliminating the competition which failed to transition from the MS-DOS world.
1992: Microsoft released Access version 1.0 on 13 November 1992.
1993: Version 2 released Minimum hardware requirements: Microsoft Windows v3.1 with 4 MB of RAM required, 6 MB RAM recommended; 8 MB of available hard disk space required, 14 MB hard disk space recommended. The product shipped on seven 1.44 MB diskettes.
1995: Access 95 released. Microsoft Access 7.0 (Access 95) became part of the Microsoft Office Professional Suite, and made the move from Access Basic to Visual Basic for Applications (VBA). Access 95 was probably the least popular version of all due to the new 32-bit application still in its infancy for the Windows operating system environment.
1997: Microsoft Access 8.0 (Access 97) released.
1999: Microsoft Access 2000 released. As Microsoft released newer operating systems which included Windows 98, the very unpopular Windows ME and finally the more stable Windows 2000/NT, a brand new significant version of Access 2000 was introduced. Since Access 2000 you are able to connect to true client/server databases and use SQL (Structured Query Language) with VBA (Visual Basic for Applications) encapsulating the use of ADO/DOA objects for more advanced processes and business solutions.
2001: Microsoft Access 2002 (XP) released.
2003: Microsoft Access 2003 released.
2003: Microsoft Access 2003 released.
2007: Microsoft Access 2007 released. A new format was was introduced called the ACCDB and supports data types of high complexity, for example multivalue and attachment field. In this new field type, user can store more than one value in a single field. The new GUI (Graphical User Interface) layout using the standard Microsoft Office Ribbon Bars and provides better ways to manage objects in Access.
2010: Microsoft Access 2010 released.
Microsoft Jet Database Engine
Versions 3.0 and 3.5 of Microsoft Jet database engine (used by Access 7.0 and the later-released Access 97 respectively) had a critical issue which made these versions of Access unusable on a computer with more than 1 GB of memory.
While Microsoft fixed this problem for Jet 3.5/Access 97 post-release, it never fixed the issue with Jet 3.0/Access 95.
Database Formats
The native Access database format, Jet MDB Database, has also evolved over the years. Formats include Access 1.0, 1.1, 2.0, 7.0, 97, 2000, 2002, 2007, and 2010. The most significant transition was from the Access 97 to the Access 2000 format; which is not backward compatible with earlier versions of Access. As of 2011 all newer versions of Access support the Access 2000 format. New features were added to the Access 2002 format which can be used by Access 2002, 2003, 2007, and 2010.
MS Access 2007 introduced a new database format: ACCDB. ACCDB supports complex data types such as multivalue and attachment fields. These new field types are essentially recordsets in fields and allow the storage of multiple values in one field. With Access 2010, a new version of the ACCDB format supports hosting on a SharePoint 2010 server for exposure to the web.
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