Alternatives to access?

[Melian]

No matter how much I use Access to create a database, I still find it very difficult to use and still get stuck using it - despite using it for nearly 3 - 4 years. Can anyone suggest an alternative please?

[Andy Tacker]

MS SQL is best option...

[Melian]

MS SQL is best option...

Is this downloadable or would I have to buy it?

[hspc]

MSDE is a light version of SQL server and it's free.
You can download it from microsoft's site.
SQL server 2000 itself is relatively expensive..But the developer edition is about $40+
But..Waht kind of difficaulties did you face with MS access ? it's easy to use (as an interface) ..
Or do you mean that you face problems writing good queries in it ?

[Melian]

MSDE is a light version of SQL server and it's free.
You can download it from microsoft's site.
SQL server 2000 itself is relatively expensive..But the developer edition is about $40+
But..Waht kind of difficaulties did you face with MS access ? it's easy to use (as an interface) ..
Or do you mean that you face problems writing good queries in it ?

Always found that I had problems with creating queries; always managed to go wrong with them somewhere. Can't say how exactly though because I don't use it that oftern.

[hspc]

Ok .. SQL Server gives you great capabilities .. If you master T-SQL you can solve many problems that can't be solved with simple queries in access.

[ovidiucucu]

I do not say this is the best, but a good and easy alternative (and free for development) is MySQL (http://www.mysql.com/).

Downloads:

MySQL database server & standard clients (http://dev.mysql.com/downloads/index.html).
MySQL Reference Manual (http://dev.mysql.com/doc/).

Also in this article (http://www.codeguru.com/Cpp/data/mfc_database/misc/article.php/c10041/) you can find a library for using MySQL in MFC-based applications.