One thing I'd add to your suggestions on opening the database spreadsheet - the current version of Open Office isn't available for older Macs e.g. the G3, G4, G5 models and anything else pre the Intel chips) and some other computers with variant processors, but there is another version of the package called LibreOffice that does. It's also free and fully file-compatible with Open Office, I've just checked and it has no problems opening the database.
http://www.libreoffice.org http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libreoffice
