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As you might know, Microsoft announced the new product, Visual Studio Lightswitch at the Visual Studio Live conference in Redmond this week (watch the keynote here). I'm excited to give this product a try, as I have several data-oriented applications for the home and extra-curricular activities that really don't require or deserve the full "from the start" development process.
On the other hand, it appears the VSLS (my acronym, not theirs) might provide the simplest way to create the applications I need, for tracking ticket sales and donors for a non-profit theatre group.
For years, when asked (and even when not asked) I've been telling folks at Microsoft what I think Access ought to become: a database-oriented design tool for beginners that generates XAML markup and a project that can then be loaded into Visual Studio for development purposes. Unfortunately, the lure of Sharepoint called Access in that direction, and it never became the XAML-producing tool I had hoped for.
VSLS, however, seems to be aimed in this direction. Don't let anyone tell you that it's a tool for beginners. Yes, if you let it do its default thing, a beginner can create a database-aware application that consumes and operates on data from many different sources, including SQL Azure. In addition to its default output, developers can open the project in Visual Studio Professional (or above) and can modify to their hearts' content. Unlike Microsoft Access (or even worse, tools like the VB6 Data Environment), this tool lends itself to further exploration and deeper modification.
The beta is due out on Aug 23. Give it a look--I will be spending some quality time with it. Let's kick the tires and see what we can create...