MS Access alternatives

[BornToMac]

I have successfully converted my dad to a Mac and he purchased his first Macbook earlier today. The only program he absolutely needs for work is MS Access. Unfortunately, MS Office for Mac doesn't include MS Access. I have searched the forums and seen a few alternatives with Open Office being a pretty popular (and free!) solution. My question is this, if all my dad needs to do is be able to open MS Access documents and do minor revisions, is Open Office a solution that will meet his needs? Do you guys have any other alternatives you can suggest? Again, all he is really going to be doing is opening MS Access documents and reading their data.

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[MisterMe]

AFAIK, OpenOffice.org/NeoOffice is your only bet. However, Access is proprietary Microsoft technology. The developers of O are doing the best that they can to clone Access. However, no developer can guarantee 100% compatibility with Office, not even Microsoft.

 

[nikonsean]

AFAIK, OpenOffice.org/NeoOffice is your only bet. However, Access is proprietary Microsoft technology. The developers of O are doing the best that they can to clone Access. However, no developer can guarantee 100% compatibility with Office, not even Microsoft.

A virtual machine (VMWARE or Parallels) running office under windows might be the best option.

 

[BornToMac]

A virtual machine (VMWARE or Parallels) running office under windows might be the best option.

He actually purchased a copy of windows 7 and MS office for windows at the same time he purchased his Mac (with the intention of installing both on his new Macbook). Since the only thing he will need Access for is opening and reading Access databases, again no real database legwork, the ideal solution would be to avoid putting Windows on his machine at all. He will install Office for Mac and hopefully, an ideal alternative. Does Open Office open and read Access files?

 

[MisterMe]

.... Does Open Office open and read Access files?

Yes.