At the core, both Microsoft Access and Microsoft SQL Server are relational database management systems (RDBMS), yet each uses a separate file format and code base. These differences add friction to the process of integrating the two technologies. Developers interacting with both back ends need to learn the idiosyncrasies of two systems. For administrators, the fact that each uses a different driver requires maintaining multiple driver configurations on systems that need to communicate with both. Power users are faced with the pain of figuring out how to cross this technology divide when growth dictates switching a home-grown Access application to a SQL Server backend. Continue reading →