OpenOffice.org

Not only is it an excellent alternative to Microsoft Office, it is a FREE alternative. Yep, the software is free.

I've been using it for a couple of weeks and I've had no problems. Specifically I've been using the word processor and the spreadsheet. I've had no problem opening and working on MS Word and Excel files.

Here is a description from the OpenOffice.org site:

"The suite covers pretty much everything you need with a word processor, spreadsheet, presentation software, equation editor and a drawing program. It opens most major formats such as MS Office almost flawlessly (Macros aren't converted), saves to PDF, has comprehensive help, and spell checking in 15 languages."

Great money saver! You can download it here:

http://www.openoffice.org/

OpenOffice is indeed a terrific suite of programs that perform very well in all sorts of computing environments, not just MS. And you can't beat the cost!

Have you heard of any Open Source program that can read and/or convert MS Access files?

Have you heard of any Open Source program that can read and/or convert MS Access files?

No I haven't and that is a good question. I wonder why it wasn't part of OpenOffice.

Don't get me started! (LOL)

I realize the MS database structure (even SQL Server stuff) is different from any other SQL/database structure. The integration with the Windows API makes it very difficult to get at and simulate. The other Office programs are not as tightly integrated with the API, and are much more basic types of programs, programmatically. A little header code, and you're interpreting a Word file. Not so with Access.

I'm always looking for the conversion program, though. (I gots to get my boss's pet Access database into MySQL so I can globalize it!) I've been looking for such a program for over 4 years. Heck, I'll even pay for it!

I realize this is an old thread, but it may still help someone. If you need to transfer an Access database to MySQL, here is a link that explains how to do it.
Migrating from MS Access to MySQL (http://www.kitebird.com/articles/access-migrate.html)

Cheers,

Jason

Great link Jason and don't hesitate to revisit old threads to add new info. :thumbsup:

Indeed, thanks Jason.

Good arguments for migrating to MySQL from MSAccess.

There are only two issues left unaddressed re: free MS Office replacements and the Access portion of MS Office:

1) Opening MS Access files

2) Even after converting table data to another db format (like MySQL), you're stuck with the MS Access queries, forms, macros, etc. that either won't convert or need to be rewritten in generic SQL-type syntax.

I'll be testing the MSAccess=>MySQL tools mentioned in the article, and hopefully come up with an all-around solution for this gnarly problem.