Is Access available for OSX?

[stubeeef]

I have a friend considering switching, his church uses access for a lot of stuff, I think it is a data base program. Anyway I was hoping it was available but haven't found it at the apple store or on versiontracker.

Anyone know if it is and a link to it, help me convert a lost pc soul.

 

[Brize]

No, Access isn't available for OS X. It's a Microsoft application, by the way.

 

[stubeeef]

Thanks, just saw it was ms, but was hoping like ie, and office, there was a mac version.

thanks!

 

[Blue Velvet]

Access is no longer part of Office for Mac which is why you can't find it.

Filemaker Pro is one of the more popular databases for Macs, it should be able to import an Access database relatively easy...

 

[tech4all]

Just FYI

But I think Filemaker is the substitute for OS X. Probably not what your friend wants, but just wanted to point that out.

Link

 

[stubeeef]

Thank you Thank you Thank you.

I always feel like I'm trying to bag an elepahant with a bow and arrow when I'm trying to get someone to switch, but I am real close on this one.

 

[rdowns]

Access is no longer part of Office for Mac which is why you can't find it.

Filemaker Pro is one of the more popular databases for Macs, it should be able to import an Access database relatively easy...

Access was never part of Office for Mac.

 

[Blue Velvet]

Access was never part of Office for Mac.

My bad... harking back to the bad old days of struggling with my little PC. Still, it's not important... if you can't get Access, you can't get it. Full stop.

 

[MisterMe]

Thanks, just saw it was ms, but was hoping like ie, and office, there was a mac version.

thanks!

FWIW, Microsoft no longer develops IE for the Mac.

 

[Nermal]

FWIW, Microsoft no longer develops IE for the Mac.

Quote: was hoping ... there was a mac version.

 

[Sun Baked]

We had the Mac version MS FoxBase for awhile, and it was a resourse pig.

Quite a few people developed standalone FoxBase widgets, and they hogged as many resources as the full package.

 

[BornAgainMac]

Microsoft provides a feedback page on their Mac site. Just complain that you want to see a version of Microsoft Access for the Mac. They need a better reason for you to upgrade to Office 2006 besides a newer version of Word, Excel, Powerpoint, and Entourage.

http://register.microsoft.com/mswish/suggestion.asp

 

[varmit]

I can't be sure, but I believe that Filemaker can import Access databases, and also, MS I think is working on Access for the Mac. But probably wont be reliese for another couple of years.

 

[Gerg]

There are other options available, as well.

http://guide.apple.com/action.lasso...cfc=302&-skipRecords=0&-maxRecords=20&-search

Open Source Office Suite for OS X:

http://www.neooffice.org/

Open Office will have a DB application in version 2.0 as well:

http://dba.openoffice.org/miscellaneous/dba20.html

 

[PlaceofDis]

There are other options available, as well.

http://guide.apple.com/action.lasso...cfc=302&-skipRecords=0&-maxRecords=20&-search

Open Source Office Suite for OS X:

http://www.neooffice.org/

Open Office will have a DB application in version 2.0 as well:

http://dba.openoffice.org/miscellaneous/dba20.html

thanks for that info, i was looking for database options myself...

 

[bigandy]

logical moves from Access are towards SQL servers... and guess what? Access can export a database to SQL commands to create a database in MSSQL, MySQL and even PostgreSQL.

Get a mac, bung MySQL or Postgres on it and you're away. Then you can have a nice little simple web interface for it too and access it on any platform!

 

[SiliconAddict]

My bad... harking back to the bad old days of struggling with my little PC. Still, it's not important... if you can't get Access, you can't get it. Full stop.

Access it a widely used DB product. Not important. Spoken like a true Mac user. Access is the second reason I haven't switched to OS X. VPC needs to run at a fair click for me to switch. Which is why I won't touch a PowerBook in its current format. That and MapPoint, Visio which there are no equals on OS X. So what do I tell customers who need me to touch up a mdb file. Its not important. Somehow I think that excuse won't work with then.

 

[SiliconAddict]

I have a friend considering switching, his church uses access for a lot of stuff, I think it is a data base program. Anyway I was hoping it was available but haven't found it at the apple store or on versiontracker.

Anyone know if it is and a link to it, help me convert a lost pc soul.

stubeeef. With a fast enough system (e.g. a G5.) your friend should be able to use Virtual PC and Access at a decient speed. They will be hurting though if we are talking larger files. Since he/she already has a Windows license and probably office all they need is the VPC itself.

http://www.microsoft.com/mac/products/virtualpc/virtualpc.aspx?pid=virtualpc


PS- A PC soul is not lost.

 

[Littleodie914]

FWIW, Microsoft no longer develops IE for the Mac.

As far as I know, Microsoft isn't even working on IE for Windows anymore. They've ceased production/development of the stand-alone app, and are isntead integrating an IE experience directly into Longhorn.

 

[Blue Velvet]

Take a pill and lie down

Access it a widely used DB product. Not important. Spoken like a true Mac user. Access is the second reason I haven't switched to OS X. VPC needs to run at a fair click for me to switch. Which is why I won't touch a PowerBook in its current format. That and MapPoint, Visio which there are no equals on OS X. So what do I tell customers who need me to touch up a mdb file. Its not important. Somehow I think that excuse won't work with then.

What I precisely meant by saying 'It's not important' was my response to being picked up on the point that it was never available for Mac by rdowns.

... you're talking to a graphic design professional who manages 2 others, a studio, a network and has also been working with Macs for the best part of 12 years. I know exactly what the significance of a database app is...

 

[CanadaRAM]

Microsoft Access bundled into Office was exactly the reason why Apple lost most of the corporate desktop market. Brilliant execution on Microsoft's part.

1) Take your two most popular applications, Word and Excel (which have Mac equivalents) and bundle them into a product (Office) with Powerpoint, and price it less then the two separately. Therefore nobody in their right mind buys Excel alone instead of Office.

2) Give them a database product for free with the Office bundle (no matter that Access 1.0 is a somewhat grotty and underpowered application) Key point: do not put Access in Mac Office: prepare PR statements "We already have a robust Macintosh database application in FoxPro"

3) Once MS Office is the accepted corporate standard, encourage corporations to write into all future tenders for computers "Must be capable of running Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Access)

4) Sell many more Windows licenses, because Macs cannot be purchased to satisfy the new Office Standard.

 

[Mitthrawnuruodo]

Access it a widely used DB product. Not important. Spoken like a true Mac user. Access is the second reason I haven't switched to OS X. VPC needs to run at a fair click for me to switch. Which is why I won't touch a PowerBook in its current format. That and MapPoint, Visio which there are no equals on OS X. So what do I tell customers who need me to touch up a mdb file. Its not important. Somehow I think that excuse won't work with then.

Never used Visio, but I thought it did about the same as e.g. OmniGraffle...

Much of the functionality MapPoint should be possible to get elsewhere, like the new map service at Google and the web in general... shouldn't it...? Al though a good Map program on the Mac would be appreciated, if it included the whole World... that is...

FileMaker has already been suggested instead of Access...

 

[thh32091]

I bought a Mac about 2 years ago and had some of the same problems with needing Access for my Mac. The truth is that Access is not going to be replaced with a program like FileMaker. I have used it and it is very limited in its features unlike the Access application. Another problem here with the original question of having someone move toward using a different application like that of FileMaker and MySQL is that is in not as easy to make the Forms and have the same look and feel that has been already created in Access towards the new application. Thus yes you can move the raw data towards one of these new programs but any Macros, Forms, and Reports that were built in Access would be lost. This would all have to be recreated in the new application and this could be a painstaking process.

I love my Mac, but there are somethings that make it difficult as a Mac user when certain applications are not available. I have used the VPC 6.0 and yes it works fine, but it is not on par with a PC running the program natively. For the suggestion of having these people switch to a new platform without fixing the problem of moving away of Access first may only frustrate them and give Apple users a bad name for the shortfall of not having that particular program available. I would suggest first for them to move towards a program that would be able to run on ALL platforms PC, UNIX, LINUX, and OSX. Once this is done moving them towards a new platform like OSX is not unpleasant and is perceived as a wonderful change.

For Access not being built as an Mac application, I was under the understanding that Access actually uses the windows engine to facilitate the program, (lazy on the part of the programmers) this means the program itself doesn't use its own engine but the OS's. If it crashes it more or less means reboot. MS realizing this problem doesn't care to fix it because it is not meant to be a big DBase program anyway. As large companies go Access is not what they use, Oracle or many others would be an obvious choose. My guess, if MS had the choice they would rather drop the whole application. This is why all the new features of their office programs are in every app but Access.

Todd

 

[BornAgainMac]

Mere Mortals

I really like Access. One of the coolest features is that you can have your data, reports, forms, program logic, views all in a single file. Access is more than a database, it is a tool that mere mortals can create real working apps that don't require any code. And it can connect to any ODBC database when you are ready to for a real database. It is one of Microsoft's best Office apps that is light years ahead of the Open Source community like Star Office or even Corel WordPerfect Office. Everyone seems to focus on word processing or spreadsheets. Boring!

I tried FileMaker and it just doesn't compare to Access.

 

[bousozoku]

Microsoft was asked by Apple not to provide Access in favour of FileMaker. The Jet Engine, used by Access was a modification to the FoxBase engine for exclusive use with Access. In Windows 95, Microsoft started adding the pieces in order to allow certain applications to use databases supported by Access and the Jet Engine.

Having used Access and Paradox for Windows when they were both new, Paradox for Windows was far the better application and database structure. I'm still surprised that Access caught on at all with its poor SQL variant.

Having recently used Access (a number I don't recall, but recent and on WinXP), I found that it had become better but it was still an usual realisation of a database even though a powerful application.