Best log book software

[They call me Tater]

+1 Divelog. Use that on the PC but load to dropbox and use Divemate on the phone or tablet. No need to carry the PC on trips.

 

[dfx]

Microsoft Access is a great choice from the standpoint of data safety. Lots of programs can read .MDB files, which is the whole point.

Whether or not "lots of programs" can read MDB files is irrelevant if it's not an open format, which MDB isn't AFAIK. It's impossible for a closed format to be future-proof.

 

[divinglog]

Whether or not "lots of programs" can read MDB files is irrelevant if it's not an open format, which MDB isn't AFAIK. It's impossible for a closed format to be future-proof.

I agree that an open data format is very important and that's why Diving Log can export the Access database 1:1 into a SQLite database without losing any data. Actually the Dropbox/SkyDrive backup function is stroring a SQLite database in the cloud, not the Access database. I've also documented the dive profile format of Diving Log, so that other applications can read the format. And there are other export functions to XML, Excel and CSV. The logbook data belongs to the user, not the application. Unfortunately not all developers see it that way.