Yes. However, linking the tables provides certain benefits.
1. Speed - Access caches information about the linked tables which it would
otherwise need to obtain when you access the back end database.
2. Querydefs - Querydefs save execution plans when they are saved and the
plans are recomputed when the database is compacted. This minimizes front
end bloating caused by having to calculate execution plans on the fly each
time an SQL string is used rather than a saved querydef.
3. Ease of switching backends - When you use linked tables you can use the
Linked Tables Manager to switch from one back end database to another.
