MS Office XP PRO on wine

[owa]

This is my challenge. I have one remaining task to do monthly, an expense report using MS Excel in which I query an MS Access data file, *.mdb. The query will import selected columns of data from this file directly into the excel spreadsheet, saving me hours of manual entries. OpenOffice will do everything except this query because of the proprietary locks on MS Access database.
I have MS Office XP PRO installed on Windows XP Home Edition with VMWare, and it works just fine. BUT, since this my last remaining need for anything Windows, I'd like to find a way to install Office XP PRO with wine.
I've tried the tips found at http://frankscorner.org, but with no success. It always fails during install with an unplained error, "Install ended prematurely because of an error." Subsequent attempts to install brings up a splash, "Installer found an incomplete installation of Office XP Pro. Would you like me to attempt to repair this installation? Y or N" Which ever you click on, Y or N, brings the same result....... nothing! The message simply disappears, and nothing happens.
Has anyone had any success installing MS Office XP PRO on Fedora Core 5?
This is the output of uname -a
$ uname -a
Linux 00301B1CFE09 2.6.18-1.2239.fc5 #1 Fri Nov 10 13:04:06 EST 2006 i686 athlon i386 GNU/Linux
Any help with this would really be appreciated.
Thanks,
owa

[darkrose0510]

Maybe it's just me... but why can't you just open the .mdb file with OpenOffice Base?

[owa]

As I indicated, OpenOffice can't handle this type of file. It needs the proprietary ADO format used by MS Access in creating this type of file. If I try to open it anyway, the contents are not human readable. I've tried all the options available with OpenOffice to open it, with varied, but still not human readable results.
If you, or anyone else knows of a way to open it with OpenOffice or any other open source program, I'm definetly open to suggestions. OpenOffice works just fine with all other aspects of this spreadsheet.
As I said, I can always use VMWare/WindowsXP/MSOfficeXPPRO to do this task. I'm just looking for a way to not have to use Windows at all. I've got Quicken and TaxCut working with wine. This is the last remaining challenge. Success with this means I can kiss Windows goodby for good...... or at least as far as I can tell, right now.
Thanks,
owa

[darkrose0510]

Are you using OpenOffice with mdb support?
http://ooo.services.openoffice.org/p...d/mdbdriver02/
You can open and work on an mdb file with that, you just select Microsoft Access as the type when you open the file.

[owa]

Dang! I've been googling, reading man files, online howto's, and even contacted OpenOffice.org, where I was told about the proprietary ADO thing, off and on for six months or more. And this is the first I've heard of openoffice with mdb support!
This is the first I've posted for help with this on a forum, though. I guess, "Ask the right question, and ask it often enough, sooner or later you'll get an answer."
Thanks for the lead. I've just downloaded it, but I have some chores to do.
My wife refers to the computer as "the slut," as it is. So, I'll have to install this and try it. I'll post back with the results.
Thanks, again.
owa

[attilathepun]

My wife refers to the computer as "the slut," as it

That has me laughing like this: HAAAAHAHAHAHEEHEEHOHOHAHAHAHAHAHEEHEEHAAAAAAA

[owa]

Thanks to your link, darkrose, I have OOwith mdb support installed. Self-taught with all-things-computer, I'll have to muddle my way through the OO help pages, and experiment some. Eventually, like the blind pig who finds an acorn, I'll figure out how to do this. Meanwhile, I do have a backup way to get it done with MSOffice. (muddle, muddle, mutter, mutter, muddle, muddle, mutter, muddle.....)
Thanks again.

I guess that tickled you, attilathepun. Yuk, yuk!

owa