| Guide Picks - Top 5 Desktop Databases | ||
| Desktop databases offer simple, flexible solutions for data storage and retrieval. They're often quite sufficient to meet uncomplicated database requirements for both small and large organizations. If you're not sure if a desktop database is right for you, try reading the Choosing a Database series of articles which cover both desktop and server databases in depth. | ||
1.) Microsoft Access Access is the "Old Faithful" of desktop databases. There's also quite a good chance that you already own a copy -- it's included with Microsoft Office Professional, Developer and Special Edition. You'll find the familiar Microsoft interface and an extremely thorough online help system. The greatest strength of Access is its tight integration with the remainder of the Office suite. It's a breeze to share and transfer data between Access, Word, PowerPoint and Excel. Also, Access serves as a great front-end for any ODBC-compliant server database (like SQL Server or Oracle). Microsoft's current release is Access 2002, which is included as part of the Office XP suite. As a stand-alone product, Access sells for around $339 but you can usually find it for $329 when bundled with Office XP Professional.
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2.) Filemaker Pro FileMaker Pro is extremely popular among Macintosh users, but it's rapidly gaining market share among the PC crowd as well. It offers an intuitive graphic interface and hides many of the complexities inherent in database management from the user. It's also ODBC compliant and offers some integration capability with Microsoft Office. The most recent version is FileMaker Pro 5.5 which retails for $249 -- a bit cheaper than Access, but without the added benefit of a word processor, spreadsheet and presentation solution
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3.) Paradox With a pricetag of $159, Paradox is the least expensive of the desktop databases on our list. As with most things though, you get what you pay for. Paradox is a fully functional database system and offers JDBC/ODBC integration with other databases. However, it's not as user-friendly as some of the more mainstream DBMSs. If you're willing to learn and have some computer savvy, Paradox will help you save a few bucks. If you've got the money to spend, you're probably better off with Access or FileMaker Pro.
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4.) Lotus Approach Lotus (now owned by IBM) offers the Approach DBMS as part of their SmartSuite office productivity package. Designed to compete with Microsoft Office, SmartSuite contains a word processor, spreadsheet (the old standby Lotus 1-2-3), presentation package and more. Lotus SmartSuite Millennium Edition 9.6 retails for $472 but you can knock that down to $375 if you're willing to download the software from IBM's web site and forego a box and printed manual.
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5.) FoxPro Microsoft Visual FoxPro isn't exactly a desktop database, it's a database development environment. It requires advanced programming skills and a good deal of time to configure, it's definitely not for beginners or the faint of heart. That said, FoxPro offers an extremely flexible and economic database solution for those who must work in a highly customized environment. Visual FoxPro 7 (the current version) retails for $549 as a standalone product but can also be found as part of the Microsoft Visual Studio development suite if you're a hardcore programmer.
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