The Choose.exe file contains a document called "Choosing the Right Database Tools" that discusses Microsoft's database products: Microsoft Access, Microsoft FoxPro, Microsoft SQL Server, Microsoft Visual Basic, and Open Database Connectivity (ODBC). Use this document to decide which database tool is right for you.

The following file is available for download from the Microsoft Download Center:
The Choose.exe file contains the following file:

   Choosing.doc    The "Choosing the Right Database Tools" document
				

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This white paper contains the following topics:

•	Introduction
•	People Who Use Databases
•	Corporate MIS Professionals
•	Challenges
•	PC Database Developers
•	Challenges
•	Power Users
•	Challenges
•	Users of Pre-built Database Solutions
•	Challenges
•	Meeting These Challenges: Microsoft Database Tools
•	The Desktop: Microsoft Access
•	Business Challenge: Power Users need to gather, analyze and present enterprise information no matter where or in what format it resides
•	Microsoft Solution: The Microsoft Access Query Engine
•	Business Challenge: Corporate MIS professionals need front-end tools for downsizing
•	Microsoft Solution: Microsoft Access Basic and Full ODBC Support
•	Business Challenge: Non-Xbase PC developers need to build Windows-based database solutions
•	Microsoft Solution: The Microsoft Access Development Environment
•	Business Challenge: Power users need to build workgroup database solutions
•	Microsoft Solution: Microsoft Access Superior Graphical Toolset
•	The Desktop: Microsoft FoxPro*
•	Business Challenge: PC database developers need to migrate their Xbase solutions to Microsoft Windows
•	Microsoft Solution: FoxPro "Program Do"
•	Business Challenge: Some PC database developers build very large, complex applications for networked PCs
•	Microsoft Solution: The FoxPro Database Engine with Rushmore
•	Business Challenge: PC database developers who use Xbase need integrated tools to build applications quickly
•	Microsoft Solution: FoxPro Power Tools and Project Manager
•	Business Challenge: Corporate MIS and PC database developers want to run the same solutions across Windows, MS-DOS, Macintosh, and UNIX platforms
•	Microsoft Solution: FoxPro cross-platform support through table-driven database objects
•	The Desktop: Microsoft Visual Basic
•	Business Challenge: Corporate MIS and PC developers need to build production-level graphical solutions easily, without compromising performance or quality
•	Microsoft Solution: The Visual Programming Paradigm
•	Business Challenge: Leveraging reusable application components
•	Microsoft Solution: Visual Basic Custom Controls
•	Business Challenge: Corporate development teams need support for large-scale complex software projects
•	Microsoft Solution: ASCII Representation of all Visual Basic Source Code Files
•	Business Challenge: Corporate developers want to build Microsoft Windows-based front-ends to Microsoft SQL Server
•	Microsoft Solution: The Visual Basic VBSQL custom control
•	Business Challenge: Corporate Developers Need Programmatic Access to Platform Independent Remote Data
•	Microsoft Solution: Visual Basic Remote Data Access Via ODBC
•	Future Directions For Microsoft Desktop Database Tools
•	What About Objects?
•	The Enterprise Database Server: Microsoft SQL Server
•	Business Challenge: Managing mission-critical information
•	Microsoft Solution: SQL Server provides proven high-performance on-line transaction processing with state-of-the-art data management capabilities
•	Business Challenge: Hosting client-server solutions
•	Microsoft Solution: SQL Server advanced support for Windows-based client tools
•	Business Challenge: Integrating PC LANs with enterprise information systems
•	Microsoft Solution: Enterprise connectivity through gateways built on Microsoft Open Data Services (ODS)
•	Future directions for Microsoft SQL Server on Windows NT
•	Open Connectivity: WOSA And ODBC
•	The Need for Open Connectivity
•	Microsoft Windows Open Services Architecture (WOSA)
•	Business Challenge: Connecting applications to diverse services
•	Microsoft Solution: WOSA system-level APIs
•	Business Challenge: Adding new implementations of a service
•	Microsoft Solution: WOSA Server Drivers and Driver Managers
•	Microsoft Open Database Connectivity (ODBC)
•	Business Challenge: Connecting applications to remote databases
•	Microsoft Solution: ODBC provides a common database API and a database driver manager
•	Business Challenge: Back-end databases use different SQL dialects
•	Microsoft Solution: Use ODBC drivers to resolve SQL dialect differences
•	Business Challenge: Back-end databases offer fundamentally different functionality
•	Microsoft Solution: ODBC support for direct command pass-through
•	ODBC Industry Momentum
•	ODBC and DRDA*
•	ODBC and IDAPI*
•	ODBC Distribution
•	Summary

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For more information about when to migrate from Microsoft Access to Microsoft SQL Server, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

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