I’ve recently published a couple video on some new ‘features’ that were added to Access in recent weeks/months:
While trying to figure out when, what build, these new functionalities appeared exactly and which editions would see such improvements, I turned to the available Microsoft resources, mainly:
but most importantly:
You know what I found? Squat! Zilch, diddly, bupkes, …
It was impossible to locate any mention, on any of these pages, of any new features.
The worst offender, IMHO, are the Release Notes that are provided with each MS365 Build. The last Release Note relevant to Access dates back to June and April before that. Yet, if you scroll through the builds, you will see other application provide information with each build. So why isn’t the Access Dev Team?
The Access Blog has been providing ‘monthly’ postings of fixed issues, but they rarely seem to post about feature releases?! Nothing about either of the most recent new features. This would be another great place to provide such details.
This leave us in the dark, most of the time not even aware changes occurred! This makes it incredibly difficult to know which build to update to, or perhaps avoid altogether and/or understand who will be impacted. This makes IT support much more difficult than it ever ought to be.
Another consideration here is the fragmentation of this critical information. Sometimes, but rarely, it gets posted in the Release Notes. Other information on the Access Blog. Yet other information distributed via various MVP sites. It simply is unmanageable and a mess (incomplete, different formats, …), if the information is available at all. It makes no sense that people need to scour the web to try and find the right site to find information each time. It needs to be centralized in one location, properly organized & standardized, output whenever updates occur and this is exactly what Release Notes are meant to be!
As such, I’ve created a new Feedback Portal suggestion. I’d request anyone reading this add their support by up voting it. It cost you nothing more than a click of a button to do so! You can access the suggestion at:
When features are release, bugs fixed, ... We need a clear and simple place to be able to track down when, upon which build, it was implemented.
We need proper documentation. We need to know which build, version, edition, bitness, installation technology features and fixes are installed upon. We need proper documentation to provide official sources of information to provide clients, IT Dept…
Why are Release Notes so important?
Well there are multiple reasons, some include:
- They enable us to identify when a new feature or bug fix was issues
- They enable us to identify when changes are made to a application
Why is that important?
They enable us to identify when a new feature or bug fix was issues
Let say someone asks you to install the Modern Web Browser control. You need proper Release Note to know which build is required, know if there version of Access is even getting that feature in the first place.
If a user complains about a known bug, it enables you to validate against their current build to see if they should have already had the bug fix applied or whether you need to perform an update, or rollback of their installation to resolve the issue.
Currently, it is virtually impossible to do this with the official Release Notes as they are mostly non-existent.
They enable us to identify when changes are made to a application
When, out of the blue, things break, bugs popup, especially with longstanding code, being able to turn toward Release Notes enable one to know if any changes were recently made to the Application (Microsoft Access in this instance). This can enable us to quickly identify new regressions introduced by a recent update. Currently, you would assume no changes have occurred and could waste hours, days troubleshooting when in fact multiple updates have indeed been implement, just not properly documented!
All that to say, although not a sexy discussion piece, documentation is a critical component of any release cycle and should be top priority by Microsoft! No team, not just the Access Dev Team, should be allowed to submit updates for production release without proper Release Notes to accompany those changes. The fact that in 2023 this isn’t the case shows a MAJOR flaw in Microsoft’s current internal processes.
He made me realize the importance of my voice! He made me realize the importance of my blog! He made me realize once again how I am the rare person to stand up and tell the truth and point out the flaws that need to be addressed; call a spade a spade, and give an accurate picture of the state of things.
If no one else will point out the lack of documentation, I will.
If no one else will call out the Dev Team for being the only Product Team not providing basic information about build releases, I will.
If no one else will point out how UserVoice, and now Feedback Portal, are not maintained & suggestions simply ignored, I will.
If no one else will point out the poor job done in creating ‘features‘ like Access’ charting, web browser controls, … I will.
Should we get into Ribbon development, identifying your build, update channel, bitness, the ‘Monster’ bug, rolling back updates, …
Remember:
Until such issues are flagged, they will never be addressed. So yes, I bring up these issues because someone needs to. I create Feedback Portal items for them because that is what the Dev Team asked us to do! I used to e-mail them quietly in the background and they have repeatedly told MVPs to create Feedback items instead. Then, of course, I will publicize these issues to hopefully get people to upvote the suggestions in the hopes that, one day, maybe, the Dev Team will fix them. There is nothing wrong for demanding better!
Nothing I stated was inaccurate! People are just upset because I dare to go against the Microsoft line and report issues. They want to control to story, make it look all rosy, but it isn’t. You either tell the truth, or you’re complicit in the deceit.
Let’s look at some other companies Release Notes for comparison:
Heck look at the release notes for Access’ big brother SQL Server:
Release Notes are a normal part of any software development process. Even open-source projects do it. So why is it wrong to ask for Release Notes when it comes to Microsoft Access? Why are MVPs upset because I point out such a fundamental issue and ask Microsoft to do better? Do they not want to the product to improve? Or is there an ulterior motive here.
Statements like: “Your views on Microsoft and the Access team are both well known” show his ignorance and he might be very surprised on my views, but then again, he’s never truly spoken to me or asked. He knows absolutely nothing about me! Instead, he apparently wanted to publicly try to educate/shame me and finishes by saying “further discussion would be better done privately”, really, now you want to speak privately. Lol. No words… (and yes, he had my e-mail address and could have contacted me directly if he had actually wanted to as he has done so in the past to request changes to blog article links that link back to his site).
For the most part, I think the Dev Team are extraordinary people doing the best they can with the very limited resources at their disposal! The issue, in my unknowledgeable (but experienced) opinion is at a managerial level. No clue if this is at the Product Managerial level or much higher (I assume), but resources are going elsewhere (AI, Copilot, DataVerse, …) and thus Access has been neglected for some time now. Then again, Access has always been the neglected black sheep of the Microsoft family! It has survived despite being treated as a second class citizen of the Microsoft Office family for decades now! But hey, keep on making your assumptions and judgements about me and what I think, I get it, kill the messenger.
Access is what Access is. It is a great application, that has had a continual and painful zigzag growth/updates over the years. It’s core is untouchable, but many of the ‘improvements‘ over the years have been VERY poorly thought out or simply a total waste of resources, and we’ve seen several later abandoned because they were so poor/useless! Microsoft has NEVER listened to users, UserVoice proved this without a doubt! Quality control, across the board at Microsoft, in the last 10-15 years is abysmal!
Thanks Colin. I needed that wake up call.
Update 2023-12-11
I just wanted to thank several of you out there for your continual support. I received private e-mails about this matter all stating that they appreciate the fact that I don’t sugar coat things, that I do present the issues that the other MVPs will not. They like the fact that I’m not a ‘yes man’ pushing the Microsoft Line, but rather push the end-user line. So thank you for your support, it doesn’t go unnoticed.