Non GUI DB System

The nice thing about databases, you can normally always use different front-ends as long as you have a connection to the backend. With your current VB-Access solution, you could certainly implement the backend with mysql. Granted, it will likely be more robust as Access is more of a small-medium database solution.

But yeah, just about any other database system could replace Access...and mysql would be a fine choice.

As for a front-end, take your pick. You could rewrite the VB app to connect to mysql. You could make it web-based and write a frontend in PHP. Really, any type of programming front-end that has connection functions to databases would work, so it would really just be whatever you are most comfortable with.

As to the learning curve, depends on your background and programming experience. Depending on what the current VB front-end does and looks like, it could be several weeks before you can build the basic functionality. Several months if there are a lot of business rules.

Performance should be a lot better, as Access is not very efficient once you start adding large volumes of records or more than a couple users, especially if its over a network. Plus, if it hasn't been compacted and repaired recently, that can also negatively affect performance. mysql, or any major DBMS should deliver much better performance than Access.

Hopefully that gives you a start...

Dan