Now if only there was a way to convert those Access databases into modern web apps based on MySQL and an HTML interface, that could really be a cash cow...
I think it could be done. The plugin itself is actually very clean code and doesn't need a lot of maintenance (well, someone has to update it to Access 2010, but that's probably not so bad). The server is crazy because it has Wine+Access+X11+VNC+Flash. Mostly the problem there is Access. But because the plugin has already done the insane work of exporting an Access database structure as text (and incidentally, re-importing it), all you need is a replacement server.
The actual form layout files (now that they're in text form) are pretty straightforward. Someone who really loves javascript + html5 could probably make this happen with a few months of work, at least for databases that don't get too fancy. (And the users are actually willing to modify their apps to make them work; slightly modifying Access apps is okay, rewriting them on a new platform is not.)
It would probably be much less gross that way, but I just don't have enough patience left to try it. I'd totally recommend it to a fresh hacker with some free time though :)
You just described "a couple decent developers + ruby on rails + custom development".
The interesting bit is trying to create the next Excel or Access. The most recent (aborted) attempt was DabbleDB (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dabble_DB).
Well, no, rewriting from scratch in Ruby is not, in any way, equivalent. If you're going to rewrite from scratch, by all means, Ruby seems to be the way to go. But that's way too expensive and risky. What people want is to take their current app and make it happen.
DabbleDB failed because it was trying to completely replicate Access, without being compatible with Access. And no, uploading your data is just not good enough. Access is not a crappy mysql; it's an IDE with a GUI editor and a programming language and a crappy mysql. DabbleDB was just a crappy mysql.
The huge business opportunity here is not to compete with Access. It's to let people leverage their existing huge - monstrously huge, seriously - investments in Access databases, adding just enough functionality to keep it alive.
Once you have the cash cow taken care of, then sure, see if you can add some features and replace Access entirely. But then Microsoft will probably not like you as much.
