MySql is free. http://dev.mysql.com/downloads/ You can force MSA to do the decimal thing, but as a db it well, sucks.
Would you like to qualify that ridiculously sweeping statement?
Access has its flaws, but the fact that it has survived (and continues to be updated by Microsoft), with a huge base of users and programmers, when the great majority of low- to mid-end database managers which have surfaced in the last 20 years have faded away, suggests that it may be you who are out of step. To compare Access with MySQL (an excellent DBMS, in its place) in the database context, is like comparing Visual Studio with the combination of Notepad and a command line compiler in the context of program development. Access combines an integrated development environment with a competent relational database manager. It includes powerful Wysiwyg tools to create forms, reports, and queries, and allows the skilled programmer to add complex code to these to produce complete standalone Applications, usable by people with minimal computer skills.
MySQL is certainly a competent database management system. I have used it in many of the websites I design and manage. However, by default it isn't even fully relational, and I would challenge anyone without a reasonable level of understanding of programming and database theory to use it effectively to manage real-world data.