I recently added a poll to my site to see what version, bitness, … people were using and thought I’d break down the results, as of 2021-07-26 with 252 votes (I will try to update this page as the results evolve).
The Results
| Edition and Bitness | Usage Percentage | Number of Votes |
|---|---|---|
| MS365 (64-bit) | 25.79% | 65 |
| MS365 (32-bit) | 13.49% | 34 |
| 2019 (64-bit) | 10.32% | 26 |
| 2019 (32-bit) | 8.33% | 21 |
| 2016 (64-bit) | 10.32% | 26 |
| 2016 (32-bit) | 4.76% | 12 |
| 2013 (64-bit) | 1.59% | 4 |
| 2013 (32-bit) | 6.75% | 17 |
| 2010 (64-bit) | 0.79% | 2 |
| 2010 (32-bit) | 9.52% | 24 |
| 2007 | 3.17% | 8 |
| 2003 | 2.78% | 7 |
| 2000 | 0.79% | 2 |
| ’97 | 0.79% | 2 |
| ’95 | 0.79% | 2 |
| 252 |
The Data Broken Down
Here are a few breakdowns of the results to get a picture of various aspects of Access’ usage.
| Edition | Usage Percentage | Number of Votes |
|---|---|---|
| MS365 | 39% | 99 |
| 2019 | 19% | 47 |
| 2016 | 15% | 38 |
| 2013 | 8% | 21 |
| 2010 | 10% | 26 |
| 2007 | 3% | 8 |
| 2003 | 3% | 7 |
| 2000 | 1% | 2 |
| ’97 | 1% | 2 |
| ’95 | 1% | 2 |
| 252 |
| Bitness | Usage Percentage | Number of Votes |
|---|---|---|
| 64-bit | 49% | 123 |
| 32-bit | 51% | 129 |
| 252 |
Thoughts
We can clearly see that the newer 2007+ accdb editions have taken the market.
Moreover Microsoft push to perpetual monthly subscriptions appears to have worked as nearly 40% of surveyed users are now using MS365. They have been pushing very hard to force everyone onto this model, making it difficult to even buy standalone version and not issuing the same updates effectively forcing client to install MS365.
We can see a clear shift towards 64-bit around the Access 2016 era. Once again this is no surprise as 64-bit has been the default Office installation for some time now and most users don’t even realize that they were installing the 64-bit version, nor that they even had a choice as the option is no longer part of the installer itself and must be made through the Microsoft portal prior to the installation routine running which is completely against what has existed for 30 years now. This is why 64-bit adoption statistics are completely askew. It would have been interesting to see what the statistics would look like had the installation routine actually given users a choice (something MS has taken away for users by default).
As time progresses, because of Microsoft’s tactics of solely pushing MS365 64-bit, you can be sure that its dominance will simply continue to grow.
Microsoft may be pushing their ideas, but they’re pushing me to a different “solution”: MySQL and PHP become more attractive with every “update”.
I did so a couple year ago and have no regrets, but there is a steep learning curve (HTML, CSS, JS/jQuery, PHP, MySQL, …). If you do venture down this route, be sure to use a Framework! Don’t try to reinvent the wheel. It will speed up development, give your premade solutions, security, …
It must be an Access like dev’t tool with Reporting using TwinBasic as the programming language and can be compiled directly for browser based application… support responsive UI, DONE…period!