Microsoft Access has been around since the early nineties and has proved to become an extremely flexible tool for database solutions where numbers of concurent users are are minimal , i.e. in smaller business , which so many of us are.
Technically Access is not a database itself, but a front-end GUI (Graphical User Inteface) which can either use the in-built Jet engine to create database tables , or connect to a myriad of other data sources.
Microsoft Access is shipped with the Office Professional product , and so comes at a bargain price for SME's whom can take advantage of creating a bespoke database solution at fraction of the cost of a higher plattfom solution, which invariably may not have the flexibility that you need in an ever changing business world.