I'm on the hunt for a new database and wonder if I could get some opinions from you all.

I'll be developing a small relational database for individual use. I will likely not be paid for my work as I'll be donating it to the community.
Should be redistributable and package able w/ a runtime.
Need a GUI development environment
Should be small and lean.
Free versions should be avail.
Should be an industry standard, no off the wall ones.
Needs to be cross platform.

I have M$ Access experience dating back to Access 1.0
I've used Filemaker also, but it was a long time ago.
I have not done much database work in a long time.
So, I understand the concepts of relational databases, but am rusty.

I think M$ Access is a bad choice because the runtime gets so bloated and most everyone hates Access. Also it doesn't do cross-platform. So even though I 'know' it, I'd rather not use it. However, I am familiar with the development look and feel so something that 'feels' like Access would speed development.

I see things like mysql & dreamcoder which seem like they might be a good candidate.

What I really need is someone to point me in the right direction so I don't travel down a path and a month from now have to back up and start over with another package.

Your experiences would be very valuable and sharing them would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Prior versions of Access would have been fine, but the new Office 2007 version is practically unusable. It is possibly the worst of all the new Office application versions (and they all suck).
Try SQL Server Express. Free.

My first question has to be do you really want to go with a client side application? A server side application makes lots more sense, since you can then manage updates/backups/etc so much more easily.

If you really want to go with a client side application, you can probably do everything you want with Open Office.

-PatP

Client side? Server Side?
I think I know what this means, but perhaps defining it would be good so I know for sure.

This is a small application that would run on local machines, PCs, Mac, Smart phones (WinCE type.) This particular project doesn't really have a network need, and clearly has an 'offline' need. If we could have 'offline' mode along with it (and not have to spend a year learning how to make that work) that would be nice, but is totally unnecessary for the scope of this project.

On the other hand, if I'm going to learn another language...might as well do one that's going to carry me thru the next decade.

I installed SQL Server Express. This seems to be more of a database management tool than a development tool, did I miss something?

I hadn't thought of openoffice, I kinda like linux solutions (been doing mythtv for a while now.) And it's already installed here

SQL Server express is a database server & a management front end, but it only runs on Windows boxes.

Open office base works OK and is cross-platform, but, it doesn't come with any ODBC/OleDB drivers to allow external apps to access its data.

MySQL is cross platform and can be light, but has more restrictive licensing than PostgreSQL

PostgreSQL is cross platform, can be made fairly light, and has very open licensing. It also has many features, which can be a good thing, AND a bad thing, depending on your requirements. By default, it is installed on a machine as a local database, but, it can support thousands of users and terrabyte scale databases.

You asked about databases. Did I miss something?