Linked by Andrew Youll on Tue 5th Jul 2005 16:46 UTC, submitted by HSQLDB 1.8.0 Released
HSQLDB is the leading SQL relational database engine written in Java. It has a JDBC driver and supports a rich subset of ANSI-92 SQL (BNF tree format) plus SQL 99 and 2003 enhancements. It offers a small (less than 100k in one version for applets), fast database engine which offers both in-memory and disk-based tables and supports embedded and server modes. 
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Access is a reporting tool, not a DB tool. Look at something like TOAD, that's a db tool. Access lets you create forms, reports, and use scripts to make date entry and reporting applications.
Open source has yet to produce many tools as good as access ( as limited as access is).
Access can connect to many dbs, not just using the built in JET db engine. Oracle, DB2, MSSQL, I think anything that has an odbc driver.