Excel on XP PRo, or SQL on Server 2003?

I need to migrate an Excel app I developed ten years ago, that has evolved
into something with a life of it's own.
But I know little to nothing about database platforms and development.

The Excel file stores info in 60 cells on each line of the spreadsheet, a
new line for every sample that is received. This spreadsheet grows to 10,000
lines in a couple months and I have to archive and purge it back down to a
more stable size.

The biggest plus I want is for more than one user to be able to enter data
in the file at once.

Although it is unlikely more than 10 users will access the file at once, I
didn't think it would grow to THIS size..

SHOULD I focus on having this migration move into an ACCESS format, running
on WinXP Pro?
I have a partnership action pack from Microsoft, and I'm trying to figure
out what the best set up would be. I'm probably going to hire a consulting
firm to handle this migration, so I'm sure they'll tell me what they
recommend.

BUT in the meantime... I'd like to load OS and software that will work best
with where I'm eventually going....

What came from Microsoft...
Office Pro '03 (10 user)
Windows Server 2003 (10 user)
Windows Small Bus. Server 2003 (10 user)
Windows XP Pro (10 user)
Windows XP Pro x64 (10 users)
SQL Server 2005 (10 users)

Roll out the Server 2003, or stick with XP Pro?

60 columns and 10,000 rows/quarter, sounds like a place to start would be
data normalization.

Since you want to have multiple users, and you will be using some sort of
'expert' help.

I would recommend going to the SQL server 2005 solution with n-tier
application structure (Sql 2005 -- WebService --SmartClient)

I will be interesting to see what others have to say.

Ed Warren.



"analyst" wrote in message
...

I need to migrate an Excel app I developed ten years ago, that has evolved
into something with a life of it's own.
But I know little to nothing about database platforms and development.

The Excel file stores info in 60 cells on each line of the spreadsheet, a
new line for every sample that is received. This spreadsheet grows to
10,000
lines in a couple months and I have to archive and purge it back down to a
more stable size.

The biggest plus I want is for more than one user to be able to enter data
in the file at once.

Although it is unlikely more than 10 users will access the file at once, I
didn't think it would grow to THIS size..

SHOULD I focus on having this migration move into an ACCESS format,
running
on WinXP Pro?
I have a partnership action pack from Microsoft, and I'm trying to figure
out what the best set up would be. I'm probably going to hire a consulting
firm to handle this migration, so I'm sure they'll tell me what they
recommend.

BUT in the meantime... I'd like to load OS and software that will work
best
with where I'm eventually going....

What came from Microsoft...
Office Pro '03 (10 user)
Windows Server 2003 (10 user)
Windows Small Bus. Server 2003 (10 user)
Windows XP Pro (10 user)
Windows XP Pro x64 (10 users)
SQL Server 2005 (10 users)

Roll out the Server 2003, or stick with XP Pro?