free software alternative to Access

[Jason Stephenson]

Jeff Smith wrote:
> 
> I should have used scalable instead of robust.  Ideally,the
> Access design tools would have been designed separately
> from the db engine. You plug in the db of your choice on
> the back  end.  Alas, I'm told you can do that, but I
> haven't met anyone who a) has done it, or b) can show /
> explain how to do it.

I've done it. It's relatively easy with ODBC. I've had an Access front 
end application that I created talk to a MS SQL Server 2000 database. 
You should be able to hook your Access front end up to any database 
server provided that you have an ODBC driver for your database. I know 
that they are available for MySQL, and most likely Prostgres as well. 
I've not used MySQL with Access but have used ODBC to connect to a MySQL 
server running on Linux from a Windows computer using a custom front end.

If you'd like some help with this, you can contact me off list.

Cheers,
Jason