You are free to use any database that works for you and connect a Base document to it. If Base is too simplistic and underdeveloped you are free to connect some other frontend to your database (I use to recommend MS Access as perfect desktop frontend for free databases). Databases do exist. They are ubiquitous online and behind your desktop. There are plenty of tools and database professionals. Professionals earn their living with software tools which are not availlable for free. It is not the duty of this project to provide a full featured environment for database developers. Anything beyond simple mail merge connections is a gift. Yes, I agree in that most parts of Base can and should be removed. Drop all wizards and drop the embedded database. Drop the odb document type. Nobody understands the odb document with no data in it but connected to something. Keep the connectivity and simple input forms. Restore stand-alone Writer reports as in OOo 1. Dumb down this office suite. And while you're in it: Drop StarBasic. Even pure read-only access with no input forms would be much better than the unfinished and misleading crap that had been added to OOo2. With pure read-only access, I had to replace my office forms with some browser based stuff. So what? -- View this message in context: http://nabble.documentfoundation.org/Re-MS-raised-prices-so-people-will-now-start-renting-their-office-products-instead-tp4008121p4008408.html Sent from the Users mailing list archive at Nabble.com. -- For unsubscribe instructions e-mail to: users+help@global.libreoffice.org Problems? http://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/mailing-lists/how-to-unsubscribe/ Posting guidelines + more: http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Netiquette List archive: http://listarchives.libreoffice.org/global/users/ All messages sent to this list will be publicly archived and cannot be deleted