Hi

I'm trying to upgrade a few Macs we have lying around here, and making them more compatible with a few PC based machines we have.

We have a lot of databases on Access on the PCs. Now, unfortunately there is no such product as Access for the Mac (as far as I know?????). What I need to know is what is the equivalent of Access for Windows on the Mac?

The machines are currently running a very old version of Word, and in desperate need of a good database system that is fully compatible with Microsoft Access.

Any reccomendations?

Cheers

Wil

- wil

Lol...the last time I had a Mac (about a year ago), every time you restarted it the screen settings would default back to the original! Never did get it to work properly

Andy (mod)
andy@ultranerds.co.uk

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I know what you mean...it's impossible to find anything like that for Mac's

Yep, 'em are bad apples.

Come on Wil, you know you want Windows on every machine, admit it. Let the devil have his way!

--Philip
Links 2.0 moderator

Hey you don't have to pesuade me, only the "anti-MS" tag-alongs.

Well, it's for my workplace actually. I'm trying to sort out their IT. We have, say 9 PCs and 4 or 5 Macs. The macs are there for Publishing projects. They need Photoshop, Quark Express and a few other Mac goodies but it would be great if they could run Access. I need a solid database system to run on all platforms - and with the majority of the staff running access, it seems the best idea to get everyone involved with it (less training costs and headaches).

Hmm. Sell the Macs would be the best answer. Although, the Mac guys would never forgive me. Hmph.

MS are a real pain for not creating a version for Macs. They're reasons are legit, but, grr....

- wil

...and Apple are a pain for not creating a version for Windows

...hmm oh thats right, they don't have a version to port in the first place :)

I don't know. I don't know of any database software for the Mac. They are traditionaly more biased towards design and the print industry.

The only way I can see me doing this at the moment is to create a ASP frontend to an Access database and run it though an intranet for the Mac guys.

Ugh. I hate ASP. I hate IIS.

Buger it. The Macs have got to go. <g>. I'll buy a brand new server with a few terminals hooked up to it for dedicated database work.

Unless someone can stil give me a trusty alternative ?

- wil

What's this filemaker pro business?

- wil

http://www.filemaker.com/products/fmu_home.html

Hmm. Forget that I think.

- wil

wahaha, FileMaker runs circles around Access. Erase yor copy of Access and put FileMaker on all you machines! *nix/NT (no teeth)/M$/ and Macs of course.

FileMaker is a pretty slick product although heaby users would still probably would rather go with MySQL and such since you have more control over the database. FileMaker is more intended to be a point and click system. hmmm .. wonder what the newest version is like. Lots of business that I know use FileMaker rather than Access.

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oh .. screeen settings getting screwy -- too simple. Just dump the finder preferences, hold down apple-control-P-R (all at the same time -- this zaps the pram -- err BIOS setting in a sense) and things should be wonderful again. Which OS is this problem occuring on?

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Paul wants M$ on everything since he likes figuring out problems. It's cool being a problem solver but for folks who would rather spend more time doing something else other than problem solving get a MAC!

Office looks better on a MAC too

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openoffice + gimp + sketch ...

Office does look sexier on the Mac, yes. But it's very buggy. That Entourage has crashed on me more times than ... I dunno what.

Tell me more about this Filemaker business? Are you coming at this from a biased point of view? :-)

- wil

Actually more of a second-hand point of view -- my friend did a lot of database work way back and he was a die hard fan of foxpro (so's my sis) but when he finally got hold of filemarker he was extremely happy. err ... except for the lack of a real command line at the time (ummm version 4-5.?? --- can't speak for the new OS X version)

Also, the benefit is that filemarker although technically is Apple it's not. (comparative would be VW, Audi, Porche -- same parent but different) For an apple product they really took time to cross over to OS X. Have no clue why.

I've used filemaker and Access but can't say I know more than the slight basics and I found filemaker a bit easier to use.

Also, I think I mentioned this but filemaker is now basically 3 platforms ... M$/ Mac OS/ and OS X. Not a bad solution, but I still wonder if a intranet (cgi/php - mysql solution might not be slightly better and cheaper ???)

Oh well, I guess it depends on your usage and requirements.

It'd also be nice if an access user would stop by and give it a fair account.

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openoffice + gimp + sketch ...